Healthy vegetable stew

This versatile dish is great for warming up on a cold night, while fitting in a heap of your recommended vegetable intake in one sitting.

With an endless amount of different veggies you could pile in, don’t feel like you are restricted by the recipe. Feel free to use it as a guide and add in or remove anything you want! While it tastes fantastic with a delicious array of spices amongst the tasty vegetables, it’s also incredibly healthy. Better still, it’s completely vegetarian which makes it great for serving up to large groups of people with dietary requirements. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 leeks, split lengthways up to the root several times, washed under running cold water then sliced thickly
• 2 carrots, cut into 1cm dice
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 potatoes, peeled, cut into 1cm dice
• 600ml vegetable stock
• 1/2 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 200g fine green beans, cut into 2cm pieces
• 1 x 400g tin baked beans
• 2 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and leeks. Cook gently for 5 minutes or until just softened.
2. Add carrots, garlic, paprika and thyme and stir to combine. Cook for 5 minutes. Add potatoes and vegetable stock. Bring mixture to the boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes until potatoes are just softening. Add cauliflower. Simmer for another 5 minutes.
3. Once all vegetables are nearly cooked, add green beans and baked beans. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Stir in chopped parsley and season well with salt and pepper. Serve with of crusty bread and season to taste.