Christmas Lima Bean Stew
The soup I've cooked most this year. There is so much going on here despite a modest list of ingredients. Celery, crushed caraway, and garlic are cooked together alongside big hearty beans and chopped tomatoes in what becomes an olive-oil dappled broth. You serve each bowl with chopped oily, black olives and fresh lemon wedges. This is a version made with Christmas Lima beans, but you can substitute cannellini or giant corona beans.
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 10 of 13 ingredients — the other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 10 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Lima Bean | 1/2 cup (85g) cooked | 108 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Plum | 1 medium (66g) | 30 |
| Tomato | 1 medium (123g) | 22 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Olive | 1 large (4g) | 4 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Bean | not in our table | 0 |
| Caraway Seed | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 1 pound / 450g dried Christmas Lima beans
- OR equivalent cooked beans ~ 2.5 pounds / 1.2 kg*
- 16 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large heads of celery, preferably with leaves, trimmed then sliced into 2 cm / 3/4-inch chunks
- 3 bunches of scallions, green parts included
- OR if spring onions are in season, I use about 12 of those, either way slice into 1/3-inch / 1cm rounds
- 8 garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
- scant 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, lightly crushed
- fine grain sea salt
- 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, drained, rinsed, cored and roughly chopped
- 2 - 4 teaspoons celery salt **
- 5 1/2 cups water or broth -or combination)
- oily black olives, seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into 1/8ths