Beans 'n' Greens Stew

It's cold outside, it's Monday tomorrow... let's dilute the misery with a stew. This one is dead easy and is pretty adaptable to whatever you've got in the fridge. It's also vegan!

I made it with dumplings this time - 50g veg suet, 100g flour and some water - but it's just as good with a hunk of bread, or even on its own.

Serves a generous 2 (or 2 normal portions with leftovers)

What you need

an onion
a clove of garlic
a carrot
a stick of celery
a leek
250ml veggie white wine
250ml veg stock (vegans double check for sneaky lactose)
a bay leaf
a tbsp tomato puree
3 tbsp puy lentils/green lentils
a small tin of whatever beans you want - I used cannellini
100g-ish of leafy greens - I used curly kale but spinach, winter greens etc. would be fine

What to do

Start heating up a couple of tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, chop the onion and pop it in. While it's softening, chop the carrot and celery into small chunks and slice the leek. This always takes me forever as I'm a very slow chopper so if you're the same put the onion on quite a low heat!

When the onion's soft but not brown, add all the veg you've just chopped, and the garlic (crush or chop it first!). Leave it to cook for a bit - 5 or 7 minutes - on a medium heat then add the bay leaf, wine, stock, tomato puree and lentils. Give everything a good stir and leave it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Finally, add the beans (get rid of the can water first) and greens. Leave it to simmer for 5 more minutes, for the beans to heat and the greens to wilt down.

Done! Bowl it up and enjoy :)