Butter bean hash

​Whilst I was planning this series of easy but healthy comfort food recipes I was on holiday. It was a pretty cold half term week in Copenhagen and we were staying in an apartment with a tiny and very basic kitchen. This recipe made for a very satisfying evening meal accompanied by some gorgeous Danish dark rye bread. In my book anything that can be rustled up in a basic apartment using limited ingredients definitely counts as easy. I decided then and there that I absolutely wanted to share it with you all.

​This is one of those recipes that I keep forgetting about and then re-discovering. I think the original recipe may have been posted by the fantastic vegetarian chef, Anna Jones. Since then I’ve re-created a number of different versions. In the Danish apartment to boost the flavour I oven roasted a whole bulb of garlic and mashed this into the mix. I’ve done versions where I’ve stirred through some mackerel, or added in extra veggies. You can pretty much experiment with anything in this.
I’ve given the basic ingredients and recipe below but in reality I always add in extra ingredients. I’ve included my favourites in the variations below. 

​Ingredients:
400g can butter beans
250g fresh tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 large kale leaves
Juice of ½ lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
seasoning

Method:
Break the kale into small pieces, removing any woody stem. Place in a bowl and rub in the lemon juice and 2 tbsp olive oil. This may sound like a hassle but it takes no more than a minute and really softens the kale. If you are already thinking this recipe is not for you then by all means skip this step but be aware the kale will be that bit chewier.
Drain and rinse the butter beans. Add them to a large frying pan with the garlic and one tablespoon of olive oil and fry gently for 3 – 4 minutes until the beans are starting to break down a little.
Add the tomatoes and stir for a further 2 – 3 minutes. If the bottom of the pan is looking brown and sticky then add 1 – 2 tbsp of boiling water. Add the kale, warm through, season and serve. Finally drizzle the remaining olive oil over the bowl of hash.
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Variations:
I like to add 1 tsp seaweed flakes and 1 tbsp parsley with black pepper to season. My favourite seaweed for this is Mara’s Shony blend but any seaweed would do. If you don’t have seaweed then you could try adding 1 tsp soy sauce or tamari.
This can be made a bit more substantial with the addition of a handful of chopped walnuts and a few shavings of parmesan. Add these with the olive oil in the final step.