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Italian Greens and Beans: Could It Be the Perfect Recipe?

Considering what to cook tonight? Italian Greens and Beans is a dish that can say a big YES to every item on this checklist:

Delicious
Easy to make
Extremely nutritious
Low in fat
Thrifty
Full of fiber
Quick cooking
Provides a traditional ethnic experience
Adaptable to vegetarians or meat lovers
Useful as a soup or main dish

Warm and satisfying
High in potassium, magnesium, iron, Vitamin A & C
Ingredient substitution works fine
Colorful and inviting looking
Trendy bistro favorite
Can be made in crowd-sized batches
Freezes well

Sound too good to be true? It's for real; you do get all that in one dish.

Italian greens and beans is a centuries old recipe from the Mediterranean, and variations are popular in different regions, including parts of France. As peasant food, it has persisted because of its wonderful traits and advantages. In recent years, Italian greens and beans seems to be popping up on the menu of every trendy restaurant, and no wonder. It's an inexpensive dish for them to turn out, but one that may not be familiar to those who lack an Italian grandmother's influence, so it works as a hot new item.

Like good old vegetable soup, what goes in depends on what you've got and what you like. Quantities are best determined by intuition and preferences. Innumerable variations can be found, but here's the basic steps:

Saut chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil in a soup pot
Set heat to simmer
Wash and drain about a pound of spinach leaves, but don't dry them
Add the spinach to the pot (This step looks odd, because you are filling a pot containing virtually no liquid with the leaves. Don't worry, the spinach cooks in the water clinging to it, that's why you don't dry it.)
Stir occasionally until the spinach wilts down
Add 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
Add 2 cans white cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
Add about 4 cups chicken broth
Add some black pepper, basil and oregano
Simmer until everything is piping hot

Now for the variations: Instead of spinach, use kale, romaine, turnip greens, escarole or any other dark leafy green. Fresh chopped tomatoes would be even better than the canned ones. For cannelloni beans, cooked Great Northern, navy beans, kidney bean or other beans will be fine.

If you don't have chicken broth, use soup base or bouillon dissolved in boiling water. If you wish to make a vegetarian version, substitute vegetable broth. If you'd like a thinner, soupier outcome, go heavy on the broth. To end up with a thicker dish that could be served in a shallow saucer, hold off on a good deal of the broth.

Cooked bits of any savory sausage such as hot Italian, sweet or Andouille can be added when the canned vegetables go in. Cooked chicken would work, too.

Grated or shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese makes a terrific addition as a topping, and of course this soup begs to be served with a great, crusty bread.

While the nutritional content will change with the specific ingredients you decide to use, one typical recipe listed the following percentages of daily requirements for one serving: Potassium= 46%, Protein= 34%, Magnesium= 34%, Iron= 45%, Vitamin A= 104%, Vitamin C= 34%. That's like a multivitamin in a bowl, and at about 333 calories, you can't go wrong.

Overall, Italian greens and beans is one of the most adaptable dishes around. Combined with its nutritional powerhouse qualities, it's a winner. Most of all, it's delicious!

Learn more about this author, C. K. Patrick.
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