White beans and greens skillet
30 min · 20 g protein · 364 cals / serving
An Italian one-pan supper: creamy cannellini beans simmered with garlicky wilted escarole, spinach and burst cherry tomatoes in a little broth, then finished with lemon, a shower of parmesan and a thread of good olive oil. Brothy, savory and ready in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 large head endive, escarole, washed well and roughly chopped
- 5 handfuls baby spinach
- 3 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
To serve
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
Steps
- Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook the onion 5 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook 1–2 minutes, until the garlic is pale gold; do not let it brown.
- Add the cherry tomatoes, turn the heat up to medium-high and cook 4–5 minutes, pressing a few with the back of a spoon as they burst.
- Add the escarole by the handful, letting each batch wilt before adding the next, then the spinach. It looks like far too much at first and cooks down to a quarter.
- Stir in the beans, broth, salt and pepper. Simmer 6–8 minutes, mashing a few beans against the side of the pan so the broth turns creamy.
- Take the pan off the heat, stir in the lemon zest and juice, and taste for salt. Serve in shallow bowls with the parmesan and the last 1/2 tbsp of olive oil over the top.
Good to know
No escarole?
Use the same weight of chopped kale, Swiss chard or more spinach. Escarole is a broad-leaved endive with a gentle bitterness that the lemon and parmesan balance; kale and chard need 3–4 minutes longer to soften.
Make it heartier?
Crack four eggs into little wells in the greens at step 4, cover and cook 5–6 minutes until the whites are set. Or stir in sliced cooked chicken sausage.
Vegetarian parmesan?
Traditional parmesan is made with animal rennet. For a strictly vegetarian dish, use a hard cheese labelled vegetarian, or leave it out and add an extra squeeze of lemon, at about 75 instead of 71.
Per
- Calories
- 77
- Protein
- (24%)
- 4 g
- Fat
- (28%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (48%)
- 10 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 3 g
- Sodium
- 212 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1454 kcal goes into the pot and 2073 g of ingredients comes out as about 1900 g of food: 77 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.