Creating from scratch...

I've been cooking so much lately that I haven't spent much time blogging, but tonight I'm staying up late to share a recipe I just made up from scratch and created. Well, I imagine the people of Tuscany make something very similar and that this dish has probably been created way before me, but tonight I just decided to go with my intuition and make this up.




Italian Bean & Corn Stew



1 cup dried garbanzo beans
2 cups water, 1 cup chicken broth
1 cup fresh off-the-cob or frozen corn, thawed
1 cup chopped onion
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tblspn Italian Seasoning (Morton & Bassett)
1 cup chopped red and/or yellow peppers or combo
1 cup diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
Parmesean Cheese for grating
Chopped fresh basil

In a medium (6 cup) pot, soak garbanzos in water for 24 hours. Drain and rinse. Add three cups liquid (2 cups water and 1 cup chicken broth) to pot with beans. Bring to boil, turn heat down to low and simmer 25 minutes until soft (but not mushy).
Add corn to beans 5 minutes before beans are done. Remove bean and corn mixture from heat.

While beans cook sauté onion over medium/high heat for about 5 minutes until soft. Add chopped garlic and sauté another 2 minutes until just beginning to brown. Add Italian Seasoning and stir well. Add peppers and sauté another 2 minutes. Then add tomatoes with juices. (Add additional ¼ cup water if mixture is dry). Simmer 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper.
Add onion, garlic, tomato mixture to beans/corns. If needed, add another ½ to 1 cup chicken broth (or water) and bring to boil. Then simmer 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool on stovetop for 2 hours. Reheat on medium before serving.

Serve in bowls with freshly grated Parmesean and top with chopped fresh basil.