I wanted to share this recipe for a great slow cooker recipe. It started with a container of mixed beans that I picked up at Costco. It was just a beautiful mix of beans and lentils, nothing that I couldn’t buy and mix myself, but seeing them all packaged together just inspired me to want to eat them right away! (oh the power of marketing)  There weren’t any spices or anything included – just a recipe. I followed it pretty closely and was quite pleased with the result. This ragout is thick like a stew. Let me show you what I did. First of all – look at this beautiful mix of beans:

dried beans

Here’s the label on the lid that identifies the ingredients:

bean varieties

The beans needed to soak overnight.

beans soaking

The color faded with the soaking – even more obvious once they were drained.

drained beans

The savory vegetables were lightly sautéed. All the ingredients were combined in a slow cooker and the work was done.

sauteed vegetables

ready to cook

ragout all ready

Here’s the ragout finished cooking, and on the table ready to eat.

ragout on the table

Rustic Vegetarian Ragout

1 1/2 cups mixed dried beans and lentils

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small carrot, chopped

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp. dried basil, oregano or thyme

14.5 oz. tin chopped tomatoes

4.5 oz. tin chopped green chile

1 medium potato, chopped

4 1/2 cups vegetable stock

sour cream

chopped fresh cilantro

Take dried beans, rinse thoroughly and cover with 4″ of water. Leave for 12 hours or overnight. Bring the beans and water to a rapid boil and skim the scum from the top of the water. Discard the water. Saute the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and cumin for 5 minutes to soften. Add the salt, pepper and herb of choice and remove from heat. Add vegetables and bean mixture to a slow cooker. Add tomatoes, chiles, potato and vegetable stock. Cover and cook on medium for at least 5 hours.

My slow cooker only has high and low settings, and on low the potatoes were not cooked after 7 hours. I turned the heat up for another hour before we ate. Garnish with sour cream (or yogurt) and something green and fresh. I didn’t have anything green and fresh on hand. This was very tasty and filling – a very substantial vegetarian meal. Enjoy!

23 thoughts

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  5. Hi Terri,
    You always inspire me! I have been eating more beans & lentils of late and appreciate a new recipe that has been test driven–especially by you. Thx for sharing.

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  8. This looks amazing! Yes, the bag of beans, as only Costco can do, does look very inspiring, I may have to go over to the land of big and get some!

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