From The Vegetarian Collection by Alison Kent and The Canadian Living Test Kitchen
Serves 8
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dried fava beans, or 1 1/2 cup fresh, shelled
1/2 cup dried kidney beans
1/2 cup dried romano beans
1/2 cup dried chickpeas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp tennel seeds, crushed
1 tsp salt
4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced
1 cup dried green lentils, rinsed and drained
5 cups chopped Swiss chard leaves
2 cups cooked small pasta, such as ditali or macaroni
Preparation
Rinse and soak fava beans (if using fresh, just add with the Swiss chard at the end), kidney beans, romano beans, and chickpeas seperately overnight in 3 times their volumes of water. Drain and rinse.
In Dutch oven, bring 8 cups water to boil; cook fava beans for 5 minutes. Add kidney beans; cook for 5 minutes. Add romano beans and chickpeas; reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes. Reserving 4 cups of the cooking liquid, drain.
In clean Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat; fry onion, carrots and celery until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, fennel seeds, salf and tomatoes; cook for 2 minutes.
Add reserved cooking liquid and 6 cups water; bring to boil. Add lentils; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add Swiss chard and cooked beans; simmer until chard is wilted and lentils are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in pasta.