If you also love eating outdoors in every season of the year, whether it is summer, winter, autumn or spring, you will certainly agree with me that consuming lunch sitting on the grass in the trees, makes us feel in harmony with ourselves through the energy inherent in the surrounding nature. A feeling of calm and relaxation that reassures us in spirit and heart.
Now if your lunch is made up of freshly picked vegetables, grown in your garden, where the bright color acts as a testimony of quality and freshness, you can only imagine how special that lunch break can be for you.
It may seem strange to you, but living in this way really excites me deeply! Someone might think “what’s special about a simple salad that grows in your garden?”. In reality there is a lot, indeed very much special!
Suffice it to think of the miracle that a seed makes by opening itself up into the ground, giving life to a seedling that grows more and more with the simple help of water, sun and energy in its various forms.
But let’s not lose too much in chatter, however pleasant and interesting they may be … and come to the recipe!
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Ingredients (for 2 people):
Bean soup:
- 120 gr of dried cannellini beans
- 2 cherry tomatoes
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1/2 white onion
- 1 glass of tomato sauce
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
Crudité:
- 2 purple carrots cut into strips
- 4 radishes
- Mixed salad
- 1 fennel
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KITCHEN TOOLS ~ For this dish, you need:
- A container to keep the beans to soak for 24 (or more) hours
- A pot for cooking beans
- Knife and cutting board
- Serving plate and bowl
PREPARATION TIME ~ 24 hours of soaking + 1 hour and 20 min double cooking for beans + 10-15 min for the remaining preparation
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DIRECTIONS:
First, let the dried beans soak in water for at least 24 hours, after which let’s drain them from the water and rinse them under running water.
Then put them in a pot with new water and cook with the lid on low heat for the necessary time for beans to become tender.
Meanwhile, in a large non-stick frying pan, on the sidelines, put a little oil and a trickle of water and let the celery taste with onion and tomatoes for at least 5-10 minutes.
To these add the beans now cooked. With a ladle or a wooden spoon, crush half of the beans so that the internal pulp can make the sauce more dense and tasty. Let it cook for at least another 20 minutes.
Finally, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and salt.
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For the crudité mix, wash and dry vegetables and place them on the plate as you wish. Add oil and lemon and, if you want, a mix of seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, etc.)
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Next to this preparation, I added mushrooms with broccoli, both lightly cooked in a pan over low heat with a little oil.
Enjoy !!!