Dog Food Stew

So, last Saturday, Laura and I made a stew. We used a recipe from one of her (many) cook books, but we changed it so much I don't think it would be fair to say that it was their soup anymore.  That is a good thing, because our concoction was not the prettiest thing in the world. When my mom say this soup, she said "oh, looks like dog food." My initial reaction was even less charitable.

In the original recipe, the chef is supposed to use only white cannellini beans as the base of the stew. Unfortunately, we forgot to get cannellini beans when we were at the store, and we were too lazy to go back. Instead, we used mostly pinto beans, which is what gives it pinkish color. We also took some liberties with the recipe by adding chicken breast and toasted pecans. Yeah, it makes a gross looking, though delicious tasting slow-carb meal. Here is the recipe that we used:

-1 whole onion, chopped
-1 pound cooked chicken breast
- 6 cloves of garlic
- a few chopped celery stalks
- 4 cans of beans
-a bit of parsley
- a couple bay leaves
- 8 ounces of cooked panchetta
- some rosemary
- some thyme

Bring that mixture to a boil, then bring the heat down and let simmer for a couple hours, until the beans are super tender. Then remove the bay leaves, and put the recipe through a food processor.

Add in a grip of toasted pecans, and top with fried panchetta and shallots.

Delicious, if not super visually appealing.