Braised white beans with leeks and thyme
Leeks cooked slowly in butter until silky and sweet, then simmered with white beans, thyme and a little Dijon into a creamy, French-bistro style dinner for two.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $3.90 a serving
- 640 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 leeks
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup vegetable broth
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ½ lemon
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan (optional)
- ¼ French bread, for serving (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¾ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 640 calories, 29 g protein, 89 g carbs and 20 g fat, and costs about $3.90 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the dark green tops and roots off the leeks, them in half , then into thin half-moons. Swish them in a big bowl of water and lift them out.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Lengthwise. Lengthwise means cutting along the long side, from stem to tip, which gives long pieces. Crosswise is the other way, straight across the middle, which gives short, round ones.
How you’ll know: Lengthwise halves of a zucchini look like two little canoes; crosswise pieces look like coins.
Dolly’s tip: Leeks hide sand between their layers. Lifting them out leaves the grit behind in the bowl.the butter with the oil in a large over medium-low heat. Add the leeks and of salt and cook, stirring now and then, 10 minutes, until very soft and silky but not .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Low heatTimer: 10 min
Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook 1 minute.
Medium heat
Add the beans, broth and ½ teaspoon salt and 8 minutes, mashing a few beans, until creamy.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Stir in the mustard, lemon juice and pepper, then taste and add salt if it needs it.
Spoon into shallow bowls, top with parmesan, and serve with crusty bread.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
White bean scampi
15 min
Sheet pan white beans and broccoli with lemon and parmesan
30 min
Creamy baked eggs with spinach
25 min
Lemony white beans with artichokes and olives
20 min
30-minute dinners ›Vegetarian dinners ›What to make with cannellini beans and parmesan ›