White Bean Stew with Quatre Epices and Smoked Seitan Sausage plus Fun Facts Friday

Those of you that have been reading a while know that I love beans. We eat them everyday sometimes more than once. I am always looking for new ways to serve beans. Sometimes even I get tired of bean purees and want something warm and comforting. The beauty of bean stews is that they are not only easy to make and reheat but you can season them is in so many ways making them totally different from the last recipe. To this stew I added a little sliced smoked seitan. The chewy texture of the seitan adds nicely to the overall dish. I used more quatre epices to mimic the flavor of the sausage. Here is what I did:

White Bean Stew with Quatre Epices and Smoked Seitan Sausage
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cups navy beans, dry
8 cups water to soak the beans
1 large yellow onion, peeled and finely minced (approximately 2 cups)
6 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled and minced
¼ cup water to sauté the aromatics
6 cups water to cook the beans (or what you need to just barely cover the beans)
3 bay leaves
2 cups peeled diced tomatoes
14 ounces tomato sauce, no salt added
1 ½ teaspoons quatre epices, or to taste
2 smoked seitan sausages with quatre epices, sliced thinly

Directions:

Soak the beans overnight in water. In the morning drain and rinse the beans.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the beans, water and bay leaves to the pot and bring the water to a boil. Then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook the beans until they are tender the exact time will depend on the age of your beans. Add the remaining ingredients and cook uncovered for approximately 30 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid and concentrate the flavors.

Refrigerate the stew until ready to serve. Like all soups and bean dishes this is better if you make it the day before which allows the flavors to marry.

You can serve this stew over a cooked grain or as is. This would also be good finished with fresh minced parsley or cilantro and a little fresh lemon or lime juice.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories-  380.12
Calories From Fat (5%) - 17.18

Total Fat - 2g
Saturated Fat-  0.23g
Cholesterol-  0mg
Sodium-  30.59mg
Potassium - 1383.17mg
Total Carbohydrates-  62.94g
Fiber - 20.53g
Sugar - 9.78g
Protein - 30.31g

Comments:

If you like bean dishes and are looking for something a little different I hope you give this a try. The flavor added by the quatre epices is hard to describe but is very pleasant while still being a bit unusual. I like to finish soups and stews with fresh citrus juice and this one is no different. We used lemon tonight but lime would be just a good. Minced herbs on top add a nice freshness to the dish. If you need to add more calories this is good served over a cooked grain, either bulgur, brown rice, millet, or quinoa would all work. If you plan to serve the stew over a grain then you should add more seasoning since adding an unflavored grain will reduce the overall flavor of the dish.

Each serving of this stew contains approximately 920IU of vitamin A, 170mg of calcium, 5.9mg of iron, 285mcg of folate, 410mg of phosphorus, 165mg of magnesium, and 15mcg of selenium. Definitely not as nutritionally dense as a meal full of green veggies but better than what most people eat. We had this tonight over quinoa with lemon and cilantro. After dinner we also had fresh veggie and fruit juice and Dan had mixed berry and kale ice cream, his new favorite treat.

Fun Facts Friday:

I almost forget today was Friday. Sometimes I can be such a ditz, LOL. Since it has been a rough week I thought I would keep fun facts Friday upbeat. Here are my questions:

1. What is your favorite movie of all time? This one is so easy for me. Hands down my favorite movie (and Dan’s) is “When Harry Met Sally”. I have seen this movie so many times and I still laugh even though I know most all the lines by heart. This movie came out the year Dan and I met and was one of the first movies we went to see together. We have seen it so many times that we will use lines from the movie regularly. For example someone said something about “Kelly Small” one day and in stereo Dan and I said, “Of the Coney Island Smalls?” We both started laughing and the other person thought we had lost our minds. Do you have any movies you love so much you know the lines by heart?

2. Other than your family (spouse, children, siblings, etc) is there someone in your life that means the world to you that you can’t imagine life without? This question is so very easy for me. It has to be my friend Louis. We have known each other a long, long time after meeting at work years ago. When things have gone wrong in my life Louis has always been the first one there to help. There have been quite a few rough patches that I don’t know what I would have done without Louis there to help me stay sane. Since I know you read this Louis, I want you know how very much you mean to me and how much I appreciate you always being there and in particular putting up with my neuroses. ;-) Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the things you do!

3. Do you like your first name and have you always; do you have any nicknames? I have to say I used to hate, hate, hate my first name. Teachers never pronounced it correctly and it used to drive me nuts (short trip). My parents pronounce it like Alicia Silverstone pronounces her name but almost no else does. The variations I have heard of my name are simply ridiculous. I can’t tell you how many times I have been called Alice? Ugh, I can’t think of many names that would be worse. As I have gotten older I learned to appreciate my name but it took me a long time and now I answer to anything that is remotely close (except Alice, you have to draw the line somewhere, LOL). In college a lot of people called me Ali; it was the era of Muffy and Chip so by comparison Ali isn’t so terrible. That is the reason I sign many of my replies Ali it was an old nickname that stuck.

What about all of you? I can’t wait to read your answers.

Unrelated Note:

Since today is Friday it means two days of relaxing with Dan (I hope he won’t be working *sigh*) and a couple of midday meal with the folks. I am planning to spend a little time in the garden if the weather cooperates. But mostly it is going to be a nice relaxing weekend.

I have a few ideas in mind for things I want to do in the kitchen, more experiments that have been in my head for a while. If time permits I hope to at least get to at least one of those this weekend. The smoked seitan sausage with quinoa has inspired me to make some of my other “crazy” ideas.

I will talk to you all later!