NCR recipes for Lent: Kale with cannellini beans

plate of kale and cannellini beans

This kale and cannellini bean recipe is adapted from the cookbook "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison. (NCR photo/Teresa Malcolm)

by Teresa Malcolm

View Author Profile

Join the Conversation

Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more

This recipe is part of a Lent 2025 series where National Catholic Reporter staff will share some of their favorite meatless meals. Sign up for the EarthBeat Reflections email newsletter to receive a recipe in your inbox each Friday of Lent this year.

Many years ago, a friend gave me the cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. My copy shows its long use, with notes and food stains and crinkled pages — a sign of a cookbook well worth recommending. And the place where the binding is cracked and pages have come loose makes it easy to find my favorite, most-made recipe in there.

When kale is available at the farmers market, this meal is my go-to. It makes a good main dish for dinner, but I've also made it as a side dish for holiday meals, where it's gotten good reviews.

My variations from the original are mainly in proportions of ingredients. I like to up the ratio of beans, and when it comes to garlic and rosemary, more is always better! 

Kale with cannellini beans 
(adapted from Deborah Madison)

Servings — about 4

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of kale, or 2 smaller bunches, stems and ribs removed
  • Salt and ground pepper
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2-3 T olive oil
  • At least 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1-3 pinches red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
  • 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • Red wine vinegar

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the kale. Simmer 7-10 minutes, then remove the kale to a bowl. Reserve some of the cooking water (no need to thoroughly drain the kale). Roughly chop the leaves.
  2. In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, pepper flakes and rosemary in the olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it's reduced to a syrupy sauce.
  3. Mix in the beans and kale. Heat through, adding a little reserved cooking water as needed to keep the mixture loose. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Serve with a splash of red wine vinegar.
This story appears in the Our Daily Bread feature series. View the full series.

In This Series

Advertisement

1x per dayDaily Newsletters
1x per weekWeekly Newsletters
1x per quarterQuarterly Newsletters
CAPTCHA
5 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.