Wahooo! I will celebrate by sharing my favorite vegetarian dish and a bottle of wine. (well I likely won’t share the wine). This dish comes from 101 Cookbooks. The author has several vegetarian cookbooks with a focus on all natural ingredients. I serve this dish as a meal but it could prove successful as a holiday side dish or an appetizer served on top a sliced crusty baguette.
2 tbsp olive oil
2 pinches red pepper flakes
2 pinches garlic salt or salt
1-2 large cloves of garlic minced
1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1-2 tablespoons of dried oregano
1-2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers*
3-15oz cans of white beans
1 block of feta cheese
1 bunch of kale **(see bonus recipe for leftovers)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Make a tomato sauce by adding olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and minced garlic to a cold saucepan. Heat on medium heat until garlic is fragrant then add tomatoes, oregano and adobo sauce*. While sauce is simmering, rinse 1/2 bunch of kale, de-stem and finely chop. Drain and rinse white beans. Add beans and kale to the tomato sauce. Pour into a casserole dish and top with feta cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
*The Adobo sauce is intense but adds a very appealing smokiness to this dish. Although optional its worth searching for and usually found in the Mexican food aisle.
** You can use any green in place of kale but I urge you to try it. It is packed with vitamins and nutritional benefits. With the remainder of the kale I BEG you to try the following delicious and addicting snack.
In a bowl, combine a tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. Rub the liquid into the leaves and set on a pan. Sprinkle salt on the kale and bake at 350 for about 10-15 minutes or until the leaves start turning brown and crispy. Munch on these right away or save for later. The picture shows dinosaur kale but curly kale works great also.
