Celebrate the End of the Gardening Season: White Bean, Butternut Squash, and Kale Stew

It’s that time of year when gar­den­ers can relax – and dream about next year’s gar­den. Most will have many of the ingre­di­ents for this veg­e­tar­i­an stew from their own gar­dens, but they can also get them at the local farmer’s mar­ket or super­mar­ket and no one will be the wis­er. This veg­etable stew might seem like a lot of work, but it’s most­ly chop­ping: mind­less, rhyth­mic, and com­fort­ing. The col­ors of the dish will bright­en these ear­ly win­ter days as you and your guests linger at the table.

• ¹⁄₄ cup olive oil
• 3 large onions, chopped
• 6 gar­lic cloves, minced
• 3 ¹⁄₂ lbs but­ter­nut squash, peeled, seed­ed, and cut into 1 1÷2” cubes
• 3 red bell pep­pers, cut into 1 1÷2” cubes
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups veg­etable broth
• 1 ¹⁄₂ large bunch­es of kale (or col­lards), stems removed, leaves cut cross­wise into 1÷2” strips
• 1 heap­ing tea­spoon of dried sage
• 2 cans can­neli­ni beans, drained (Goya brand)
• 1 cup Kala­ma­ta olives, pit­ted and halved
• sea salt and fresh­ly ground peppercorns
• fresh­ly grat­ed Romano cheese
• hand­ful of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 lb riga­toni or mezzi riga­toni (DeCec­co brand)

Heat the oil in a heavy large Dutch oven over medi­um high heat. Add onions and gar­lic and sauté until ten­der, about 10 min­utes. Add squash cubes; sauté 10 min­utes. Add bell pep­pers. Add the broth. Cov­er and sim­mer until the squash is bare­ly ten­der, about 10 minutes.

Mix the kale (or col­lards) and the sage into the stew. Cov­er and cook until the kale wilts, about 10 min­utes, longer for col­lards. Add the beans and stir until heat­ed through. Sea­son to taste with sea salt and pepper.

Cook the riga­toni and drain well. Place in a large serv­ing dish and spoon the stew over the pas­ta. Sprin­kle gen­er­ous­ly with pars­ley and cheese. Have more grat­ed cheese on the table.