The most wonderful one I’ve had lately was a Spanish dish called ” Olleta amb i olli.” – beans and vegetables in a garlic sauce with soup, toast and salsa.
1 lb dry butter or lima beans
Olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 lb spinach or other greens such as kale
7 cloves garlic
2 TB paprika
3 green onions, chopped
Juice and zest of 1 lemon or 1 bitter orange
1 lb new potatoes
1 jalapeno chile
2 tsp salt
4 Roma tomatoes
4 slices of bread
Soak beans several hours. Drain and put into a pan with 2 pints water, 4 TB olive oil and the bay leaf. Simmer until beans are soft. Add the spinach, 1 clove of garlic, the paprika, green onions, zest and citrus juice and the potatoes. Add water if needed to just cover the potatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are done.
Remove the chili from the broth and chop it with the tomatoes to make a salsa.
in a food processor, whirl 6 cloves of garlic and 1 teaspoon of salt. Add 1 cup of olive oil as the processor is running, slowly at first (drop by drop) then in a trickle as the mixture thickens slightly.
Toast the bread, preferably over an open flame.
Strain the vegetables from the soup and place them in a serving dish.
Serve the soup first, with the toast and salsa. Then serve the vegetables with the garlic sauce. Yum!