Scrumptious red pesto beans and wilted greens

27 Mar Scrumptious red pesto beans and wilted greens

There is a fun way to put together a novel dinner recipe and that is via resourcefulness and experimentation.

Tonight I joined up for a free trial of the The Guardian Feast app. It is only $4 a month or $39 a year, and I like the idea of finding new ideas to bounce off, so I signed up and searched the recipe archive for ‘pesto’.

The recipe that I chose needed a great deal of substitution. I used onion instead of leek, cobbled together a sun-dried tomato pesto, swapped cannelini beans instead of butter beans, added a diced chicken thigh and used baby spinach instead of chard.

It was still delicious! And, it is great to eat another serving of legumes this week. They are really good for us!

Print Pin

Red pesto beans with wilted greens

A scrumptious combination of Mediterranean flavours and featuring legumes and leafy greens

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Keyword legumes, pesto, vegetarian option

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 27 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp pesto if you have it otherwise, basil, cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and olive oil
• 2 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 onion or leek (sliced)
• 1 can cannellini beans and juice or butter beans and juice
• 1 organic chicken thigh optional (diced)
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves or chard (chopped)
• 1 tsp chilli flakes or fresh chilli (chopped)

Instructions

• Add olive oil to frypan on medium heat. When heated add onion or leek and cook, stirring occasionally for 4 minutes.
• Add diced chicken thigh (if using) and brown for a further 4 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Add the can of beans in juice and simmer for 10 minutes or until juice is reduced and beans are softened.
• Meanwhile add pesto ingredients and sun-dried tomatoes to food processor and process until finely chopped and combined
• Add pesto and spinach or chard to beans, cover and simmer for 8 - 10 minutes until spinach or chard is wilted and the flavours have mixed through.
• Add fresh or dried chilli and stir through

Notes

The chicken is not really necessary, however, I added it for some extra protein and flavour.

This dish is delicious on its own, or can be eaten with a slice of toasted, crusty bread to mop up the juices.