Rustic Ragout

A while ago (honestly, probably close to 1 ½ years ago) my mom bought me a container (2.8 kg!) of 9 Bean Soup Mix from Costco. The brand is “Golden Boy” and the beans included (in order of ingredient list) are:

1. Green Whole Peas
2. Green Whole Lentils
3. Red Split Lentils
4. Pinto Beans
5. Small White Beans
6. Small Red Beans
7. Light Red Kidney Beans
8. Black Beans
9. Black Eye Beans

A coworker recently talked about this recipe she made from the side of a 9 Bean mix she had … so I asked if it was the same mix (from Costco) and described the container. Luckily it WAS the same mix and she told me I had to make the recipe!

So I gathered all the other necessary ingredients and away I went.

I usually don’t make the recipes listed on packages … but think I need to start because this recipe was DELICIOUS!!! My coworker said she doubled the amount of beans because she likes her ‘stews’ really thick, but when I made it I followed the basic recipe and for me it was plenty thick enough!

It made 4 hearty servings and I was more than happy to eat it for 4 lunches in a row … without being bored of it! So I again bought the necessary ingredients to make it again (actually enough to make it 2 more times!) and it’s currently on the stove.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups 9 Bean Soup Mix (I think you could easily use the above listed beans in relatively equal portions and you’ll be fine)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp dried thyme (I used ground thyme)
• 1 medium potato, chopped (I used 6 small fingerlings)
• 1 can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, undrained (I used Aylmer Accents Original with Green Pepper, Celery & Onion this time and Spicy Red Pepper the first time)
• 1 can chopped green chilies, undrained (I found this in the salsa/taco aisle)
• 4 ½ cups vegetable broth (I used Campbell’s No Salt Added broth and used the full 900 mL container, so technically just shy of 4 cups)
• ¼ cup minced fresh cilantro, for garnish
• ¼ cup Tofutti Sour Cream, for garnish

Instructions

1. Rinse dry bean mix thoroughly and cover in 4″ of cold water.
2. Soak beans 12 hours or overnight (I soaked them for at least 12 hours)
3. Place the beans and water into a large sauce pan and bring to a rapid boil.
4. Skim the scum from the top of the water and discard the water (I found this hard to do as some of the beans would get into the spoon, so I just drained & rinsed the beans in a colander).
5. In a pan, sauté the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and cumin for about 5 minutes.
6. Add salt, pepper and thyme then remove from the heat.
7. Add beans and sauté mixture to the large sauce pan with the tomatoes, chilies, potatoes and broth.
8. Cook on medium-low for about an hour, or until the beans reach your desired firmness.
9. Serve with a bit of cilantro and sour cream (I forgot to do this the first time I made the recipe … so I’ll try to remember to add it this second time!)

As mentioned above, this recipe makes 4 hearty servings.

Here are the nutritional values per serving (based on 4 servings per recipe):

• Calories
  • 247.75
• Fat
  • 0.75 g
• Sodium
  • 349 g
• Carbs
  • 48.5 g
• Fibre
  • 10 g
• Sugar
  • 14.5 g
• Protein
  • 14.5 g