Greek Gigantes, Tomato & Spinach Stew

Photo © Anne-Marie Minhall

If, like me, you enjoy an engaging cookery show on the telly then there are some surefire dependables right?

Rick Stein being one to my mind. Wherever he is in the world talking about, eating & cooking food, he & his crew make good programmes to watch.

He has a knack of engaging you with knowledge, enthusiasm about not only the local dishes & produce but also the people & the history behind where he is visiting & exploring.

I was fortunate enough to interview him once. He'd just flown back from Australia & had come to chat about a charitable project. Once our pre-recorded discourse had ended I asked him if he was heading home to Padstow: "Yes, but first I'm heading off to meet one of my sons for a pint."

I liked him even more.

Recently I was watching one of his programmes where he was creating a dish from Epirus in northern Greece; giant butter beans with tomatoes & wild greens. Rick used spinach & so I decided to follow suit.

For two

250g Gigantes Beans (I bought a jar of them from a deli all ready to go, you could use tinned butter beans)

1 Onion chopped

2 Garlic Cloves chopped

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Sweet Paprika

1/2 tbsp Tomato Purée

200g Tin of Chopped Tomatoes

50g Cherry Tomatoes halved

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

200g Spinach

Thyme a few sprigs

Soften the onion and garlic in some of the oil for 5 minutes before adding the paprika, tomato purée, chopped & fresh tomatoes, your giant beans, 100ml water plus the salt & pepper

Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes

Stir in the spinach, the thyme sprigs & heat through till everything is bubbling

Really tasty & good with a bit of posh bread drizzled with some olive oil.

I'll leave you with the words of Mr Stein ..

"Food is a great thing to be enthusiastic about, it's not hurting anybody."

AMM