Flageolet Beans with Broccoli Rabe and Pearl Onions (No Added Fat)

For today, I thought I'd make a flageolet bean dish; I enjoyed the dish that I had made in May with spinach. I wanted to make our dinner and also something for a client. The client I was cooking for doesn't eat spice, and my daughter doesn't eat squash. Here is what I did.


Ingredients

• 3 cups flageolet beans
• Large 28 ounce can of stewed tomatoes (I used fire roasted, diced tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup water
• Vegan bouillon cube
• 8 ounces coarsely chopped broccoli or broccoli rabe to yield 1/2" or so pieces (I used half of a frozen 16 ounce bag of broccoli rabe)
• 1t plus another 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 lemon pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
• 3t finely chopped basil
• 1t fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
• 8 ounces cooked winter squash cut into approx. 3/4" cubes (I used half a bag of frozen butternut squash)
• 1 cup onion, diced to about 1/4" cubes (instead, I used a cup of frozen pearl onions; I used about 4 1/2 ounces of a 12 ounce bag of frozen onions)
• 1/4 t garlic powder

Process

1. I rinsed the beans and soaked them in ample water overnight.
2. I rinsed the beans (they had been soaking about 12 hours and the 3 cups had become 4 cups), added the stewed tomatoes, 1/2 cup water, and bouillon cube, and cooked for 25 minutes in my Instant Pot pressure cooker. (In hindsight, a few cloves of minced garlic would also have been good.)
3. I cooked hours before I needed to serve so just waited a half hour or so till the pressure was reduced and I could open the Instant Pot.
4. I added the frozen broccoli rabe, as well as the salt, lemon pepper, chopped basil, and lemon juice.
5. I reserved half of the dish into a storage container and mixed in the squash to that container. I'll deliver this to a client.
6. To our half of the dish, I added the onion and another 1/2 t of salt. I also added 1/4 t garlic powder. I put our portion, still in the Instant Pot pot, back in the pressure cooker and pushed the "Keep Warm" button; by the time we would eat an hour or so later, the onion would have warmed up.

I also served Jade pearl rice and tasty organic grape tomatoes.

Results

All of us loved the meal. I was relieved because sometimes my daughter isn't happy with beans, but she ate all that was served her and happily talked about the meal. Flageolet beans have a nice, mild flavor and are small and easy to combine with other ingredients.

Ideas for the future

I should use 3 cloves minced garlic in the initial cooking and omit the garlic powder. Were I cooking for folks who enjoyed spice and squash, all the ingredients could be used - but this would make nearly twice as much as I usually make for my family.