I never thought I would have a vegetable garden in my backyard this year. It seemed like this silly thing that I would finally, finally get to when the deck and kitchen were both finished, the shed was built and the porch was stained. My dad grows enough vegetables to feed 75 or more people, so I figured I could just glom onto that and be satisfied. But currently I have a thriving vegetable garden, no shed or deck to really speak of, a kitchen that still isn’t totally finished, and we have the most unintentionally distressed-looking porch floor. Priorities hehe.
It’s true that at any given moment there’s some urgent thing that needs to be fixed, tidied, cleaned, shopped for, photographed, edited etc., but we almost always make time to eat well–even if the loosest translation of that means tossing a couple kale leaves into a daily smoothie! It is a privilege to grow food and find time to cook.
I think Erin from Yummy Supper understands these ideas of nourishment all too well. Just a quick flip through her beautiful new cookbook will give you inspiration for a week’s worth of meals that glow with abundance, yes, but also with the more immediate appeal of accessibility. It’s a gluten free book, but not in a way that you would notice right away. I tend to gravitate towards the variety and colours of natural foods, and Erin’s book really celebrates this. Instead of focusing on what’s off limits, there’s page after page of gorgeous naturally gluten free foods combined with a knack for seasonal consideration. There’s pears poached in Lillet, popped amaranth with cumin and coriander, a crispy kale salad with curried chickpeas, millet crepes, parsnip chips, and black rice pudding with coconut–among so many other thoughtful dishes. Whatever your dietary inclinations, you’ll find something in this book that speaks to you.
And this stew! It’s a good one–nice and spicy with tons of vegetable goodness. I was scanning through the ingredients thinking that I had most of what was called for (fresh beans, corn, tomatoes, shallots, garlic, chilies), knowing that I would substitute a couple things based on what I had in the garden. Chard instead of napa cabbage and bok choy, eggplant for the mushrooms, maybe some extra carrots and some sliced up chard stems too. Erin condones the switch ups! It’s an all season-approachable dish that mostly relies on the flavour base of fragrant coconut oil, chilies, onions, garlic and tamari. The sharp edge of heat and little bit of bite from the vegetables makes this stew glow with vitality. It’s hard to stop eating it–just feel good food through and through. Some coconut oil-browned cashews and shallots get sprinkled on top and that textural/flavour contrast is perfect.
Garden Stew with Toasted Cashews & Shallots
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 1-2 cayenne chilies, seeded and minced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
- 4 cups water
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 1 small eggplant, chopped
- kernels from 2 cobs of corn
- 1 ⅓ cups sliced green beans
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 4 shallots, thinly sliced
- 4 cups chopped swiss chard
- salt + pepper
Notes
- From Erin Scott’s Yummy Supper
- I just went with the goodness of the veggies, but you could easily add diced tofu or chickpeas if you’d like a little extra satiation in this stew.
- She notes a little tip in the book that I completely agree with: have all of your ingredients chopped and ready to go once you have the stove turned on. The whole thing goes pretty quick. Also, serve this with some cooked rice if you like.
Instructions
- Heat a ¼ cup of the coconut oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the chili, onion and garlic. Cook until very fragrant and onion has softened slightly, about 2 minutes.
- Add the tamari and water to the pot. Bring to a boil and then add the carrots. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and eggplant and cook for a minute. Add the corn and green beans and cook for another couple minutes. At this point you can turn the heat off until you’re ready to serve it because you’ll just need to bring the pot to a boil for the greens.
- In a small sauté pan, heat a teaspoon of coconut oil over medium low heat. Add the raw cashews to the pan and toast them in the oil until they brown a bit on all sides, about 4-5 minutes. Empty the cashews onto a small plate and give them a little sprinkle of salt if you like.
- Return the small sauté pan to the heat and add the remaining teaspoon of coconut oil. Add the thinly sliced shallots to the pan and stir them around here and there until they turn deep brown and a bit crisp in some areas, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
- Bring the pot of stew to a boil again and add the chopped swiss chard. Cook until the greens wilt a little bot, about 1 minute. Serve the stew hot with the toasty cashews and shallots on top.
Those pictures are incredible! I love this time of year when you still have all the fabulous summer produce but there’s enough of a chill that you want to cook them.
Oh my goodness. Today is the day that I stumbled across your blog. It’s late at night and I can’t stop looking through your recipes and pictures! Your photography is amazing and I love your stories. I hope to be as good as a blogger as you are (one day!)
Your blog is inspiring and I want to create every dish right now! I guess I’ll have to wait until morning.
Thanks for working so hard to keep your blog beautiful!
Mandy Dugas from MandysHealthyLife.com
These look like some great healthy meals, as a vegan there are some here that I would really enjoy eating. The vegan bawli stew looks amazing
Whoa. This looks amazing!
Gorgeous pictures, and the recipe looks absolutely scrumptious!
Absolutely beautiful pics Laura – especially the mood captured in your garden shots. Honestly they are too beautiful for words. Hope you’ve had a wonderful summer!
I just LOVE cashews in my stew!
IM IN LOVE with your pictures and recipes! The whole atmosphere of your blog makes me inspired over and over again!
I just love it when my favorite bloggers are talking about my other favorite bloggers. You two are so great! This soup sounds incredible. I’ll have to flip through Erin’s book again to find the original. I’ll save your version for when we get some relief from the heat!
Gorgeous! This looks so tasty. :)
That looks so good! The cashews sounds like a great addition.
Great recipe, it was delicious and packed with flavour and colour. Thanks for the inspiration to get busy in the kitchen
Made this last night and loved it! I always trust your taste.
This looks so so good!!
I dream of having a veggie garden filled with goodies!
This stew is so dreamy, especially with those cashews on top. So yum!
Teffy X
Beautiful and colorful soup! LOVE!
xo
Elisa
This stew is exactly what I need right now. Such a vibrant dish full of so much goodness!
Love what you say about Erin’s book; I’m with you all the way. Nourishment is absolutely the best word for it. It’s not just about what you’re physically eating but what you’re taking from the ground and how your feeding your soul. Love it.
Yum! This looks gorgeous and so beautiful and fresh!
This is fantastic! I am so glad I made it for dinner tonight. So flavorful and delicious, and so easy. I will definitely be making this again!
That photograph of the corn is simply gorgeous and the soup is so vibrant and colorful! I ordered Erin’s book and can’t wait to receive it, she always has a lot of interesting recipes.
I am really loving Yummy Supper’s new cookbook too! I had my eye on my recipe – glad to hear it’s a good one!
Well I don’t have a garden, but rather a little pot of chillies on my balcony that i feel will have a home in this stew. Congrats on Pure Green…. Ontario grows the best stuff and I can’t wait for some more inspiration on how to use it! xo
Just gorgeous, Laura! Erin is killing it with this book. I cannot wait to make my own pot of this. Wonderful!
Your pictures are lovely. The lighting is so pretty. I’ve already bought Vibrant Food because you had recommended it. Now I may just have to get Yummy Supper!
I’m so jealous of anyone with a garden or something nearly resembling one. I’m limited to whatever I can cram on my kitchen window sill! What a beautiful selection from Erin’s book to make using all those beautiful veggies!
What a beautiful celebration of summer, so much color and goodness all in one bowl! I want to sit out on the porch with this wholesome soup and that gorgeous book and a cool, soon-to-be-fall breeze. YES!
p.s. I totally [TOTALLY] feel you on the 1/2 done house projects.
Girl, your words. They get me every time. You have such a calming, storytelling thing going on with the way you write and I always feel a little more zen after reading your posts. I love how you point out that Erin’s book is GF but that you wouldn’t notice right away. I know I would love this book for that reason! And this stew…gorgeous. BTW – we get to hang out in ONE month! Wishing we could get dirty in the garden/kitchen together but I guess I can settle for just hanging. ;)
such a gorgeous stew. and bravo to you for somehow creating a luscious vegetable garden in the midst of all the craziness.
will you please come over and teach me how to be a good garden grower person and not be freaked out about all the little green friends on my kale so i can just casually toss some in my smoothies in the morning?! who knew gardening would be so…scary? hehe. this stew looks delicious… anything with shallots has my heart!
These photos! Erin’s book! Your garden! I am loving it, lady. This is just the nudge I need to finally contact our HOA about putting a community garden in the rarely (and by rarely I mean NEVER) used side yard.
Oh my what a gorgeous post, Laura! Your veggie patch is so darned abundant and I’m honored to see your bounty working so beautifully in the Bali Garden Stew. It’s just right that you made all of those substitutions and played with what you had on hand. I bet the eggplant was super tasty!
SO so touched,
xoxox
E
Love everything about this stew, and it reminds me of the wonderful curries and rice dishes I had in Bali, especially since it’s topped with topped with toasted cashews. This looks like the perfect summertime soup.
Sounds great. This would work well with olive oil also. The problem with coconut oil is that unless it is extremely fresh it frequently has a rancid after taste. We loved for years where it was the basic cooking oil, often rancid, often overpowering, and when I was there my cholesterol rose markedly only to come down when I returned to this country and other cooking oils.
These pictures are an inspiration and I too have a garden when I should probably spend my time doing something else but the satisfaction of eating from your backyard way out weighs rational thinking!