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Tuscan-style cannellini bean stew

       With a three-cheese toastie

      There are three things that will up your toastie game considerably: 1) buttering the outside of your bread; 2) using a mixture of cheeses; 3) pressing down evenly so all the bread is in contact with the hot pan. Do all these things and thank me later.

      Serves 1

      —

      2 tsp salted butter

      2 slices of sourdough bread

      25g mature Cheddar cheese, grated

      1 heaped tbsp ricotta

      1 heaped tsp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

      1 spring onion, finely sliced

      1 portion of Tuscan-style Cannellini Bean Stew

      flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      Start by placing a dry frying pan over a high heat or preheating a sandwich press. You want it really hot.

      Butter the slices of bread on what will be the outside of the sandwich. Mix the cheeses together in a small bowl, along with the spring onion, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Spread the mixture onto one of the slices of bread and close the sandwich.

      Reheat the stew in a saucepan over a medium-low heat until piping hot, stirring occasionally.

      Place the sandwich on the hot plate of the sandwich press or, if you’re using a frying pan, put it in the pan then use a pan lid to press down quite hard and evenly, so the whole surface of the sandwich is in contact with the heat. After approximately 5 minutes – when the sandwich is really nice and golden – flip over.

      When the sandwich is cooked on both sides and the stew is hot, pour the stew into a mug or bowl, put the sandwich on a board and sprinkle both with flaked sea salt. Slice the sandwich in half and eat, being careful not to burn your lip!

Tuscan-style cannellini bean stew

       As a soup with pesto

      The stew lends itself really well to the addition of a bright swirl of punchy pesto. I’ve done a non-traditional mix here using hazelnuts and sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts and a mixture of basil and sage. Of course, feel free to chuck a dollop of shop-bought pesto in if you have no inclination to make your own right now. I’ve blitzed half the stew up and kept half chunky so you get a nice halfway texture. Go full smooth or full chunky if you’d prefer.

      Serves 4

      —

      4 portions of Tuscan-style Cannellini Bean Stew

      flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

      For the pesto (use good-quality shop-bought or …):

      25g hazelnuts

      25g sunflower seeds

      1 large handful of basil leaves

      6 sage leaves

      25g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

      3 tbsp olive oil

      ½ garlic clove, peeled

      Tip 2 of the portions of stew into a saucepan and use a hand-held blender to blitz until smooth. Add the remaining two portions and simmer over a medium-low heat until piping hot, adding a little boiling water if you’d prefer a thinner soup. Season to taste with flaked sea salt and black pepper.

      Meanwhile, make the pesto by toasting the nuts and seeds in a dry pan over a medium heat for 1–2 minutes until golden, shaking the pan often.

      Put the toasted nuts and seeds along with the remaining pesto ingredients in a mini-blender and whizz until it is as smooth as you like it – it’s quite nice left pretty chunky for this.

      When the soup is hot, pour into bowls and swirl a spoonful of the pesto on the surface.

Tuscan-style cannellini bean stew

       With cavolo nero and gremolata

      Add ribbons of cavolo nero to the bean stew and you’ve basically made the Italian peasant style soup/stew called ribollita, just without the traditional bread element. Tear some chunks of good stale bread and throw them in with the greens to really bulk this up, if you fancy going the whole hog. As I’m not doing much hard manual labour out in the fields, I find the beans are filling enough without the bread. The gremolata is a quick and easy way to really add loads of bright flavour to the stew.

      Serves 2

      —

      2 portions of Tuscan-style Cannellini Bean Stew

      100g cavolo nero, shredded

      For the gremolata

      1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

      1 lemon, zested

      1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

      1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

      Reheat the stew in a saucepan over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. After a couple of minutes, add the cavolo nero and simmer for a further 15 minutes.

      Meanwhile, to make the gremolata, mix the oil, lemon zest, garlic and parsley together.

      Once the stew is hot, pour into shallow bowls and sprinkle the gremolata over the top.