White Bean Stew With Carrots, Fennel and Peas Recipe (2024)

I'm a bean connoisseur but sometimes a can works when you're stretched for time. Just cooked up a pot of Rancho Gordo "Marcella" which in my opinion are the cadillac of white beans. Cooked slow and steady they offer a soft creamy texture that stands up in a kale and chorizo soup/stew. Saying no to commercial beans and mass brands!

Do you soak beans overnight ?

have can of white beans in pantry....can I use those?
Maybe heat with clove/onion, and herbs for a few minutes before continuing recipe at step 3?

David Tanis, I think you need to write a book, or maybe just a poem(?) dedicated to the serrano chile, as it figures in so many of your recipes (according to my admittedly incomplete and uneven survey!).

Sorry, but any Cypriot—any Mediterranean for that matter—will recommend you never ever add salt during the cooking process of beans (unless it's already in a tomato based stewing sauce). Adding salt during the cooking process toughens the beans and their skin. They will be just as tasty if salted and dressed as soon as they're cooked, plastered and warm enough to soak up the dressing of your choice.

Loved this! My quick weeknight version: I boiled frozen peas and then added canned chickpeas to that water after the peas had boiled (with heat turned turned to low). Spooning the water, peas and chickpeas into the pot of fennel, orange carrots, etc worked very well. I also omitted the eggs and yellow carrots. The pepper/mint/parsley/lemon garnish is mandatory.

My addition to this recipe was 4oz of pancetta, sauteed in the pan before putting the vegetables in. Gave a light, smoky flavor which works well with beans.

What would you recommend in terms of freezing this?

This is my question also!

I usually love David Tanis' recipes, but I don't know about this one. After I first cooked it, the stew tasted springy and fresh, but I went back after a few hours and the carrots had rendered the whole pot overly sweet. Adding more salt didn't help. Perhaps reduce the amount of carrots or leave out the boiled ones altogether.

I made this using an Instant Pot, which I used to streamline the process. I first pressure-steamed the eggs in the pot for 5 minutes, then I pressure-steamed some sliced carrots. I dumped out the steaming water and cooked cannellini beans for 35 minutes. Meanwhile I diced and sautéed the other vegetables. I added the cooked beans and steamed carrots along with some sugar snap peas and simmered to finish. One steamer insert, one Instant Pot pan, and one sauté pan.

This recipe is fairly brilliant. If you like beans and fresh flavors, make it. Don't skimp on the finishing touches: parsley, mint, zest, Serrano, olive oil drizzle. Really pulls it all together and delights the palate. Drink wine with it.

So Springy! Grateful for the measurements - half of my large fennel bulb was enough but my petite celery required twice as many stalks. I wish I'd had twice as much of the herb mixture at the end.

Using canned white beans, I only did steps 3 and 6, adding just a little homemade broth to the veggies in step 3. I also added a pinch of asafoetida to help digestion. That way the recipe was fairly quick to make. Elegant and comforting dish. Will make again.

Used way fewer vegetables by number to reach volumes required: 2/3 "large" onion, less than all of a fennel bulb, 3 carrots, 1.5 celery stalks. I guess the author uses small veggies. I made the recipe exactly as written and found it to be bland.

I made this tonight -- delicious, but also a fair amount of work. As a vegetarian I love all the veggies and their crunch. I roasted the yellow carrots instead of steaming them, and I'm glad I did. I also skipped the serano chile since my husband isn't a fan of that much spiciness. I sliced and fried a Beyond Hot Italian "Sausage" and served it alongside the stew, and it really helped. You absolutely could use canned beans and store-bought hard-cooked eggs to make this faster and easier.

I am not sure I would call this a stew - there is no broth. I will add a small amount of homemade bone broth and report back on my findings.

Improvised with canned garbanzos because it was what I had, but the flavor profile was wonderful! Will make again when I have white beans.

This was good but not great. One lb. of beans is a *lot* of beans, and I would call this 8-10 servings. I used Rancho Gordo Vaquero (black and white), which were perhaps not the perfect bean.

My boyfriend is a real carnivore so I browned some excellent Italian sausage, transferred to a plate, then used the residual oil as a replacement for the olive oil in the recipe. Adding the sausage during the Step 6 assemblege produced a delicious result...even better the next day...which I am enjoying now.

This was delicious! I used a mixture of butter, pinto, and black beans. I also added a fennel frond to the beans. The black and pinto beans turned everything a sort of dingy brown, but the flavor was fantastic. I agree the finishing touches of mint, parsley, serrano and lemon adds a lot of flavor. I added fresh chopped fennel fronds as well.

I made this using an Instant Pot, which I used to streamline the process. I first pressure-steamed the eggs in the pot for 5 minutes, then I pressure-steamed some sliced carrots. I dumped out the steaming water and cooked cannellini beans for 35 minutes. Meanwhile I diced and sautéed the other vegetables. I added the cooked beans and steamed carrots along with some sugar snap peas and simmered to finish. One steamer insert, one Instant Pot pan, and one sauté pan.

Excellent excellent. Made with Rancho Gordo Marcella beans. A keeper

I used snap peas that I had in hand in place of the peas, which added a nice textural contrast. I also skipped the fennel seed and just added the fronds with the other herbs at the end. This was a delicious way to turn a lot of early summer vegetables into a hearty main course with boiled egg and parmesan crisps. It would also be a lovely base for some lemony chicken.

This recipe is fairly brilliant. If you like beans and fresh flavors, make it. Don't skimp on the finishing touches: parsley, mint, zest, Serrano, olive oil drizzle. Really pulls it all together and delights the palate. Drink wine with it.

OPT canned beans, chickpeas, pancetta, *fewer carrots

I used the heirloom Spanish beans, Alubia Blanca from Rancho Gordo, which had been a gift from a wonderful cook. They cooked up perfectly.