White Beans With Cabbage & Potatoes

No wait! Stay with me! This is actually an incredibly delicious meal, I promise!! When my roommate walked into the kitchen and asked me what I was cooking he eyed me dubiously but agreed to try some and has been converted!!

This is a super quick dish to prepare, very budget friendly and frankly as healthy or unhealthy as you care to make it! (Although perhaps one to avoid if you are prone to gas!!)

I'm a huge fan of vegetarian food and generally when I'm cooking for myself I tend to keep it meat-free. Ive been digging through some of my veggie cookbooks again as I try to inspire myself to get back into the kitchen more and stumbled upon this old favorite. It was perfect timing as I had some potatoes and cabbage that needed to be used. Ive mixed it up a little from the original recipe and in my opinion it is even more delicious now!!

Anyway, here's what you'll need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 medium potato, cut into small cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, finely sliced (which I actually didn't use today as, for once, we were out of shallots)
• 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• half a head of cabbage, finely sliced
• grated parmesan or pecorino

And here's what you do:

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet or saute pan. Add the potatoes and season well with salt. Cover and cook until potatoes are cooked through and crispy, stirring a couple of times to make sure all sides are evenly crispy. This should take 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for a minute or two.
3. Add the beans in a single layer and cook for a couple of minutes until the beans start getting a little crispy. Stir (carefully, or the beans will get mushy) and cook for another minute or two. 
4. Add the cabbage and stir in carefully. Cover again and cook until the cabbage is cooked to your liking, 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Serve garnished with your choice of cheese

Despite the simple list of ingredients, this dish has a lot of character. The crispy potatoes and cheese make it feel a little more decadent that it really is, and the beans and cabbage give it a healthy punch of protein and greens. This will be featuring a lot more often on my weekday lunch rotation!

You can easily adapt it to fit what you have lying around. No cabbage? I bet it would work well with leeks or chard or any other leafy green vegetable. No cannellini beans? I'm sure you have a can of some kind of beans lurking in the back of your cabinet. 

You could jazz it up with any fresh herbs you have lying around. Maybe some flavoured oil or butter instead of the olive oil? How about a wee pinch of chili flakes to give it a kick?

A variation I am keen to try is a brunch-ier version, starting with some cooked bacon then sauteing the potatoes in the leftover bacon fat, swapping out the cabbage for leeks or Brussels sprouts, then topping off with a fried or poached egg. Mmmmmm ..... I'll let you know how that goes!!