Black-eyed beans with fennel in very light tomato sauce

This very simple but tasty and so nutritious dried pulses recipe can be served as a first dish, warm salad or a vegetarian meal. The fennel gives this a distinctive but elegant flavour and aroma to the recipe and, when in season, you can enrich the dish adding a leek cut in thin rings

Cooked by Dimitris Andreou,

"Cook Book" recipe from "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4 people):

250 gr. of black-eyed beans

½ cup of olive oil

1 large bunch of fennel fronds, roughly chopped

4 Spring onions, finely chopped (both white and tender green part)

1 large white onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp. of tomato paste (or 2 ripe tomatoes, grated)

salt

black pepper

Method:

Cook the beans in a large pot with plenty of water until tender but without overcooking. Transfer into a colander to drain.

Heat the olive oil in a wide pot on medium heat and sauté the chopped onion and the Spring onions until wilted.

Add the fennel fronds into the pot, turning once or twice with a wooden spoon, and then add the tomato paste (or the tomatoes). Season with salt and pepper, turn the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes.

In the end add the beans, stir well, cover with the lid and simmer the food for another 10-15 minutes. *** Only if really needed add just a bit of water.

Serve the food lukewarm along with fresh bread.