Three Sisters Tamale Casserole

Bubble, bubble, toil and casserole?

In my continuing quest for comforting vegetarian main dishes, I happened upon a casserole cookbook at my local library.  A casserole that peaked my interest was a tamale casserole, but there was a big problem inherent in the recipe in that it had cheese and ground beef in the same recipe.  Keeping a kosher-style home means that is against the rules, but it sounded so good I had to try and make it work.  Exchanging beef for zucchini and adding a few spices to enhance the flavor of the veggies made the recipe something I could enjoy at home.

Enter what I like to call Three Sisters Casserole.

Nom nom nom

Slow Cooker Sephardic White Bean Stew

It is almost slow cooker weather in Florida!  Granted, that means Highs below 85 degrees, but still, it makes me happy.  In an effort to use expand my slow cooker repertoire to a more healthy variety, I decided to turn to vegetarian cookbooks and happened upon Gil Marks' Olive Trees and Honey.   In it, was a recipe for Sephardic White Beans with Leeks.  While I was making it, it looked more like a side dish than the main dish, so I bulked it up with some zucchini and eggplant I had in the refrigerator.  It made the house smell fantastic and is great over rice for a hearty vegetarian meal. 

I didn't take any pictures of it while cooking, but I do have photos of the finished product.  I made this in between building a sukkah at my synagogue and celebrating a friend's new baby - not a whole lot of time left over for photography.  Speaking of which, if you are Jewish, Happy Sukkot!  I won't go into the details of the holiday here, so if you would like more information, here's a link. 

Sephardic White Bean Stew - Up Close and Personal