Tuscan Cannellini Bean Stew w/ Garlic and Parmesan Stock

The best recipes are as easy as they are delicious, utilizing the flavor inherent in great ingredients and fabulous taste combinations. This recipe is easy and fairly light, and translates easily into a vegetarian version by using vegetarian Parmesan.*

Creamy and slightly nutty Cannellini beans (a.k.a. great northern or white kidney beans) form the basis of a popular soup in Tuscany. The beans are complimented by vegetables, fresh herbs and most of all garlic. I have heard the story that it was made as a great way to soften up stale bread and when served over thick slices it makes a hearty, healthy, filling dinner. A few of the recipes for Tuscan Cannellini bean soup suggest using grated Parmesan. I suggest using the brilliant, authentically Italian trick of using Parmesan rind to flavor the broth. It really ramps up the flavor, slightly boosting the beans' nuttiness and adding a pleasantly salty richness. If you want to make a vegetarian version but can't get your hands on a vegetarian Parmesan cheese, swap out the water for low sodium or homemade vegetable broth. I served this stew ladled over crusty multigrain bread and alongside a version of my smoked trout & citrus vinaigrette salad .

Tuscan Cannellini Bean Stew

(Makes approx 6 servings)

2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced into roughly 1/2" pieces
2 carrots, scrubbed and sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
3 - 4 sprigs Italian (or flat) parsley, leaves and stems chopped finely
3 cups water
1 rind of a Parmesan wedge
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
6 thickly cut slices of bread of your choice

1. Set a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat and add olive oil and garlic and allow to marry, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
2. Turn up the heat and add parsley and all veggies and sautee for about 5 minutes. Stir frequently.
3. Add beans, butter, water and Parmesan rind and salt and pepper and bring to a lazy boil.
4. Continue to cook at just above a simmer (lazy boil) for about 35 to 45 minutes. As you stir, gently mash the beans with the back of the cooking spoon. This will help some of the bean paste to thicken the broth.
5. Slice stale bread or toast sliced fresh bread. Ladle stew over bread and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

*A quick internet search tells me that at least one big box store carries a brand of Parmesan made with vegetable rennet.

Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Tzatziki Dressing

I don't know about you, but I love salads with creamy dressing. They are always rich-tasting and delicious. My only problem with most creamy salad dressings is that they pack so many calories they defeat the idea of a healthy salad. The perfect salad dressing, therefore, would be so rich, creamy and flavorful that it would be impossible to believe it's actually waist-line friendly. Not only does this dressing deliver, it is a perfect compliment to chopped cucumbers and sweet grape tomatoes. The tzatziki style dressing is heavy on garlic and dill, which also compliments. I recommend you serve this as a side dish alongside my Chicken Shawarma Skewers (http://joyouskitchen.blogspot.com/2014/05/chicken-shawarma-skewers.html), or any type of grill food, really.

Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Tzatziki Dressing

Makes about 8 salad bowl-sized servings

1 1/2 garden cucumbers, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt, to taste

For the Tzatziki Dressing

1 (8 oz) container 2% milkfat plain Greek yogurt
1 - 2 cloves garlic, peeled*
3 - 4 extra large sprigs of dill
juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Pulse dressing ingredients in a blender until the dressing is smooth throughout.
2. Together with cucumbers and tomatoes, toss dressing in a large salad bowl.
3. Serve as a starter or a side with Greek style grilled meat.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback

*I like it with 2 cloves, but this makes the garlic flavor quite strong and the salad a little spicy

Introductory Post and Ginger Soy Sauce Tempeh with Kale

Welcome, welcome to my kitchen! First, a little bit about me: I've been cooking since I was little--more than 20 years now! I've written step-by-step entertaining menus for the instructional website instructibles.com. I've competed in cooking contests and more recently auditioned for season 3 of Masterchef (I promise I'll publish the full menu + recipes for my audition dish in a later post).

The other half of my kitchen team, my amazing food photographer, is Josh, my domicile-sharing boyfriend. He is also my taste tester and advice giver; I've come to rely on his sophisticated and talented palate. My cooking has been inspired by the cuisine of many different countries; I like to think I am tasting the world.

If I had any rules I play by in the kitchen, it would come down to one: fresh, locally-sourced ingredients make the best dishes, by far. We eat mostly vegetarian--though there will be meat dishes aplenty on this blog--but when we do eat meat I try to go for livestock that was raised free range, without antibiotics in their feed, and butchered cleanly and humanely. Obviously organic is better, when possible, but to me the importance of well-sourced meat and other ingredients cannot be overstated.

Introductions having been made, on to first post-y goodness!

The holidays season is upon us, bringing with it an abundance of rich foods, both sweet and savory. To alleviate some of my holiday guilt I am trying to make lower cal healthy dishes this week. Lately I've been craving Tempeh and Kale with rice; growing up as I did in Woodstock, it is considered something of a comfort food dish. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Tempeh is a delicious soy protein cake made from soy and other whole grains fermented together. It is nutty, very dense and quite dry, which can make it difficult to work with. In this recipe I use a broth of soy sauce, ginger and water to soften the cubed tempeh and inject it with some extra flavor.

I had some amazing pickled ginger left over from my Masterchef auditions recently and because I was out of fresh ginger, I decided to mince it and use it in place of fresh ginger (I really don't recommend dried powdered ginger, since it loses a lot of its flavor when dehydrated). The ginger is different from sushi ginger, in that it's julienned instead of thinly sliced from the natural shape of the ginger root and used as a condiment in yakisoba dishes; it's also a bit more acidic and saltier, and when made at home it gets a lovely deep red color from the addition of Shiso leaves. I was very happy with the small amount of zing it imparted to the Tempeh in my dish, although I'm sure fresh ginger would be just as fabulous.

I make two cups of rice to go with this recipe. I recommend any long grain brown rice, cooked according to the package directions. You'll want to put that up at the same time as you start the tempeh, since rice takes a minimum of 20 minutes to cook.

Ginger Soy Sauce Tempeh with Kale
Serves 2 - 4



1 1 lb block of tempeh, cut into bite sized cubes
2 - 3 cups of kale, washed and chopped roughly
3/4 Cups water or Mushroom stock (how-to to follow in a later post about kitchen staples) + 1/4 cup water to steam kale
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, regular or low sodium
1 medium, or 2 small onions, julienned
2-3 medium cloves of garlic, minced or pushed through a press
1 Teaspoon minced pickled ginger or fresh grated ginger, or more to taste
1/2 Teaspoon of Toasted Sesame Oil
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sesame seeds, for garnish
1. Combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger, 3/4 cups water or stock, sesame oil and 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan on low heat. Toss in tempeh and stir to coat. Bring heat up to a simmer and cover pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring half way through.
2. Add Kale, onions, 1/4 cup water, remaining 2 Tablespoons olive oil and either a splash of soy sauce (the tempeh will have already absorbed all of the moisture and liquid flavoring) or a small dash of salt and turn heat up to medium. Cover again and cook on medium, stirring every 2 -3 minutes for 15 - 17 minutes, or until kale is cooked to desired tenderness.
3. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve over rice.


I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!