I couldn’t find all the ingredients for a recipe for “Greens with Cannellini Beans and Pancetta,” so I came up with this alternative. We would like to express our gratitude to Diana Moutsopoulos for sharing her recipe with us.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, juice drained and reserved
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small white onion, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch beet greens and stems, roughly chopped
- ⅔ cup imitation bacon bits, or to taste
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Drain the beans, but reserve about 1/4 cup of the liquid. Set the beans and reserved liquid aside.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion until transparent and beginning to turn brown, about 8 minutes; stir in garlic, and cook just until fragrant, about 1 more minute. Stir in spinach and beet greens, partially cover the pan, then cook until the leaves wilt, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle on the bacon bits. Stir in the kidney beans with reserved liquid, and cook the mixture, stirring often, for about 2 more minutes. Mix in the red wine vinegar, and cook until the pan juices reduce and the greens are tender, about 5 more minutes. Season to taste with salt.
Reviews
I used fresh bacon and tri-color beans. Such a lovely comfort food.
This was just o.k. – I was starving and needed to use the beet greens (along with the beets), but in fairness I am vegan so used coconut “bacon” which probably made a big difference. I think a little sugar as suggested by other reviewers might help also. Thanks for sharing as beet recipes are rather scarce and its very good for us.
SORRY BUT THIS WAS NOT FOR ME. I THINK THIS WOULD BE GOOD WITH REAL BACON BUT THE IMITATION BITS WERE SO SALTY, AND I ONLY USED 1/3 CUP. THEY TASTED VERY ODD WITH THE VINEGAR.
This was a good idea, but using 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar may be a better idea. The vinegar taste overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. My husband overcooked to try and reduce down the vinegar, and that made it mushy…so, we put it in the food processor and it made a great bean dip!
I made something very similar to this but added a bit of brown sugar and used less vinegar. I aso used a piece of real bacon instead of imitation bacon, cooking it in the pan before cooking the onions and garlic. It’s a nice change from the typical 3 bean salad or baked beans recipe