Recipe: Butternut and haricot bean casserole

Reckon it's about time for another recipe on here, and in keeping with my promises earlier this month, it's time for some healthy eating! This was basically a staple dish from my university days, the beans are very cheap (even cheaper if you use dried ones!) and it's perfect for the freezing cold weather we're having in London right now.

Half a medium sized butternut squash

1 large red onion

1 large red pepper

1 large potato

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 tin of haricot beans (works well with cannellini, butter and kidney beans too)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 stock cube made up with half a pint of water

salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

Chop the squash, potato, onion and pepper into roughly 1cm cubes. We're not going for perfection here, this is a proper rustic dish! Peel and mince the garlic.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole dish. Add the vegetables and garlic until softened slightly. Keep the heat down low so the squash and potato don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Slowly pour in the stock and tomatoes followed by the basil, paprika and seasoning. Drain the beans and pour in, stirring well. Bring the heat up so the casserole is slowly simmering. Put a lid on the pan and leave to cook through for half an hour or until the vegetables have softened.

Here's a tip for thickening without adding flour. Ladle out some of the casserole into a beaker and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Stir this back into the main pot. 

A good way to use up the rest of the butternut squash is to cut into into cubes (making sure to scrape out the seeds and fibrous parts). Drizzle over some olive oil and a little smoked paprika and bake at 220C for about 30 mins. It's great served with sausages and a little homemade slaw of red cabbage, onion, carrot and yogurt. Delicious, colourful and low carb!