Cavolo Nero with Cannellini Beans and Olive Oil Food That Looks After You Series

Buongiorno, having made a few episodes using legumes and pulses as the foundation for the various dishes for this series food that looks after you, I'm now moving on to the next stage where I'm going to be using greens and today I will be cooking with cavolo nero which is kale but I will also be pairing the dish with some cannellini beans but in this particular case the beans will have a supporting role as the driving ingredient is going to be the black kale. Also I will be using some olive oil as a main ingredient and garlic. It's a very very simple dish. I've just separated the stalk from the leaves of the cavolo nero as I do not want to waste anything and this is perfectly okay so I'll put them in a pasta drainer and I'm going to wash it first. Cavolo nero is one of those winter greens that really looks after you. It is rich in fiber, minerals and natural bitterness and that bitterness is something that we seem to have lost in the modern way of cooking but it is really good for your digestion and balance. As there are only a few ingredients obviously every ingredient is key and I've got a couple of cloves of garlic which I'm going to slice today in one millimeter pieces. I'm slicing it because I want the garlic to release some of its flavor but not all of its flavor. If I wanted to release all of its flavor I would have actually crushed it. So I can add it to the pan. I've got here some olive oil, another key ingredient, so I'm going to be very generous with olive oil today so I'm going to add the equivalent of two tablespoons. So I'll start from cold and I'll turn the hob on but I'll go on a medium position as I don't want the garlic to cook. I want it to very gently cook with the oil and release some of its flavor so make sure that you keep it nice and low. It's beginning to sizzle gently. I'm now adding the stalks of my kale first as this will require a little bit longer to cook. Do not worry if you're carrying a little water and just to show you by the way I've cut them in about five to seven eight centimeter pieces and the leaves here I've roughly chopped them again in about 10 centimeters and I will leave them to gently sizzle at a lower temperature so that the garlic doesn't burn for a good couple of minutes. So remember be quite generous with the oil because it's not there for decoration in this dish. It's there to nourish you but also to help the body absorb the greens. Followed by the rest of the greens and obviously being that they're going in after they will finish cooking roughly at the same time. Do not worry if it looks like there is a lot there it will shrink. I just added one teaspoon of salt. I'll give everything a good mix to show that the salt is spread across the entire kale and I'll place the lid on and I will leave them to gently cook for about seven to eight minutes. I will be using a tin of cannellini beans as they are milder and softer but you can use any beans you like. However as I want the kale to be the main ingredient and I do not want the beans to be the star. These are milder in taste and the softer but also I will be using the water as the water is full of starches and goodness so there is no point wasting it. But if you want to the water you can and replace it with tap water. I should also say that these are very low in salt there is 0.02% of salt so if you can get hold of unsalted thin beans even better and then you can regulate the salt yourself. So I'm adding them in including the water. I've just turned the temperature up to ensure that the beans reach the same temperature as the greens but I'm moving very gently as they are quite soft and I do not want to damage them. You can see that everything is beginning to boil once again so I'll turn the temperature down on medium once again and I'll place the lid on and I'll leave to once again gently cook for about 15 minutes. The addition of the beans will make this a main meal and I'm not adding any water I'm not adding any stock so everything will cook in the natural juices and if you think about it you've got the fiber and the goodness from the kale combined with the fiber and also the energies from the proteins released by the beans and of course also the starches this is a great meal which will set you for the day so I assume 15 minutes. Now some of you have asked me for some meat options for these vegetarian dishes I'm cooking and of course you can add meat. I would recommend if you did to add pork based products like sausages go really well with beans and legumes also you can add chunks of pork and of course any sub products such as bacon salami whatever you like but if you do add them when you're sizzling the ingredients at the beginning so like today for example I would have added them before the kale with the garlic and then add the kale afterwards so when you're sizzling the ingredients but bearing in mind that this is mostly a plant-based series I'm staying away from meat products because actually there's plenty of proteins already in the meals but I thought I'd mention it so that you can have options also specifically with this recipe today you got options of course besides the fact that you can add meat you can also add a little bit more water if you wanted to and add some potatoes small potatoes in cubes and cook them from the very beginning it might take a little bit longer or you can also add some pasta again you would need to add a little bit more water make it nice and brothy and then add some pasta but this is a complete meal as it is so you don't have to sometimes it's nice to just keep things very simple and there's plenty of nutrients in there as it is but again you got options of course in our case I will be pairing it with some bread this is some bread which I baked a little while back has been in the freezer just defrosted it is called the pane nero di castelvetrano which is a black bread from castelvetrano where I come from I baked it in the summer so I'll put a little link up here if you would like the recipe and you can replicate if you want another option is also croutons you can of course make croutons there are endless options of course but I'm trying to keep it as simple as I can today and I'm ready so let's have a look the smell of kale when you cook like this is incredible genuinely you actually get to smell the earth it's really really good so I'll give it one final mix and here is my complete meal I just wanted to show you the the juices can see and the beans clearly being velvety and soft they've released a nice soft cream and actually it's perfect so if you can avoid adding water I would avoid it as it is very much one of the features of this meal I'm just going to see if they are properly cooked that is the only thing to watch out for they're nice they go a little bite and they're perfect and this is when you also again open to options you can add some chili flakes if you like or some chili oil but as I said I'm keeping it simple so I just add a little bit more olive oil at the top so that it completes my meal white lye a little pepper I don't put any pepper I left it for the very end I always find that whenever I eat anything like this eating it with bread is the most gracious and humble way so I'll go a few beans and some kale in there and my bread and I'll try it okay it's really silky the beans have done the job in the softness and releasing the silky texture but the dominant driver is the kale the garlic you can taste it because I put a couple of cloves and it's really a complete meal so delicious and then of course the olive oil which I put at the end it's renewing the flavor and I think that dishes like this are really good because not only they tick all the boxes in terms of affordability but also goodness and everything else but they are delicious so I think it's wonderful hopefully you make it and if you do you let me know how you get on be shame not to thank you for watching see you later bye