White Bean, Quinoa And Kale Stew with Fennel

For once, my Mom could snicker that her grocery store was better than mine.

You see, I was on a mission to buy parsnips to make this stew. My trusty Sunny’s didn’t have any.

I found parsley root, with beautiful parsley leaves attached to it. It looked almost identical to a parsnip, which to my eye, is a white carrot. However, they don’t taste the same. Good thing I didn’t buy it!

I had to venture to a “normal” grocery store. Or T&T, since they have parsnips. I bet the Farmer’s Market would have some, too.

While we’re at it, let’s push the boundaries some more (truthfully, parsnips are not that adventurist for me). I don’t like licorice but like tarragon. Why not try fennel? I am so happy I tried it, because I loved this stew, fennel and all!

Continuing with my white bean kick, and my abundance of kale, I modified Isa’s Quinoa, White Bean And Kale Stew from Appetite for Reduction. I thought it might be plain and boring, but it was anything but. It was sublime. A great, comforting stew with tons of mellow flavours without bogging you down.  I substituted the leek for onion and fennel, swapped the white potatoes for sweet potatoes, upped the carrots and parsnips and used up the last of my kale including the stems, which was only 1/2 lb.

Thankfully, this soup makes a ton. I will be slurping it up all week and then some!

I honestly had a hard time deciding which white bean and kale soup to make, and here are some other soups that caught my eye:

Turkey Sausage and Quinoa Pasta Soup (veganized of course) from Shape

White Bean, Roasted Garlic and Kale Soup from The Domestic Vegan

Tuscan White Bean Soup in Rebar

This is my submission to this month’s Simple and in Season, to this week’s Healthy Vegan Friday, to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays, to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend and to both Ricki and Kim’s vegan SOS challenge featuring parsnips.

White Bean, Quinoa And Kale Stew with Fennel

1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lb fennel, cored and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots (200g), peeled, diced medium
2 medium  parsnips (150g), peeled, diced medium
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed (hmm, I didn’t crush it, oops!)
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
Fresh black pepper, to taste
8 cups vegetable broth
1.5 lb sweet potato, chopped (peeling is optional)
1 cup dry quinoa (or less!)
1/2 lb kale, stems finely chopped and leaves thinly sliced
1.5 cups cooked white beans (I used Rancho Gordo’s Yellow Eye Bean but any white bean – Great Northern, white kidney, baby lima, etc, would do)
2 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)

1. Heat oil a large soup pot over medium high heat. Saute onion and fennel with salt for about 3 minutes. Add garlic,  stirring to not let it burn, for about one minute. Add carrot and parsnip, along with the herb blend (fennel seed, marjoram, thyme, rosemary), turn heat up to high and saute for a few seconds.

2. Add vegetable broth, sweet potatoes, quinoa and kale stems. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes, until potatoes and quinoa are tender. Add kale and beans, and stir frequently until kale is wilted. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add lemon juice, to taste, and adjust the salt and pepper.

Serves 8.