Dilly bean stew aka Twenty Twenty Stew

This stew was all over my instagram in Jan 2022. It looked delicious, but as it is an American recipe I decided it wasn't worth my time trying to find dilly beans, which I had never heard of, as I can't even buy cannellini beans in a can 🤦🏻‍♀️. There is no such variety of beans called "dilly beans", it's beans with dill, of course. Alison Roman says this is the stew for people who love beans and love pickles, and she's not wrong.

Ingredients

  • 30g butter
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • salt
  • 2 x 400g cans white beans such as butter, cannellini, drained and rinsed
  • 1l vegetable stock
  • 1/4 head of white cabbage, core removed, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp lemon juice
  • big bunch dill, coarsely chopped
  • Creme fraiche or sour cream, greek yoghurt or butter to serve

Method

  1. Place the butter and olive oil in a sauce pan over a medium-high heat. Once the butter has melted, add the onion to the pan. You could also add bacon at this point. Add 1/2 tsp salt. Cook without stirring too much. You want it to get some colour on it. Once they look good, remove a quarter of them to a bowl to use as a garnish later.

  2. Add the beans. Cook for a minute to soften, and then mash them a little bit. You want half the beans to be whole and for some to be squished enough to thicken up the stew a bit. Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  1. Add the cabbage and vinegar, stirring to wilt. Cook for another 15 minutes.
  1. Taste and add more salt if it needs it. Remove from the heat. Add half the chopped dill to the stew, along with the lemon juice. Divide among the bowls and sprinkle the reserved onions over the top. Scatter some more dill over the top, and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Add a bit of creme fraiche, sour cream, greek yoghurt or butter to serve.

References

Roman, Alison (8 Feb 2022). THE RETURN OF (a stew-themed) HOME MOVIES anewsletter. https://anewsletter.alisoneroman.com/p/dilly-bean-stew-video

Tags

  • Recipe
  • Dinner
  • Easy