Pasta and Bean Stew with Kale

We’re off school for the week, have a couple of playdates (lunch included), so…I made a big pot of soup.

Lunch Menu – Pasta and Bean Stew with Kale, Crusty Bread
Farm Share Produce – Onion
Other Local Produce – Kale

Pasta and Bean Stew with Kale
Adapted from Pasta and Bean Stew in “Williams-Sonoma Soups & Stews”

¼ cup olive oil
½ onion, thinly sliced into half moons
2 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
¼ t crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 can cannellini beans, UNdrained
Salt and pepper
1 cup orecchiette or small shell pasta
1 bunch kale, small, rough chopped
Parmesan cheese, for serving

In a Dutch oven on medium-low, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook until softened, 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and their juice, red pepper flakes, stock, and cannellini beans. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then add pasta, turn down the heat, but maintain the boil so the pasta will cook, 8-10 minutes. Add the kale, cook another 10 minutes.
Serve with parmesan.

NOTES: This would work well with any green. I’ve made it with spinach and the recipe originally calls for chard. My favorite pasta for this stew is orecchiette, but any small pasta will work.