Summer Vegetable Stew with Wheatberries

And here's another recipe - this one Carolyn's forwarding after trying it with the veggies she got in this past week's share. Carolyn says: "I found the stew recipe in my Mark Bittman How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food book. Amazing how the ingredients exactly matched what I had!! In case you want to try or share..."

Summer Vegetable Stew with Wheat Berries

• 3 T evoo, plus oil for drizzling
• 1 medium leek, including a little green, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 lb green beans, sliced into 1-inch pieces (1 scant cup)
• 1 small zucchini, pattypan, or summer squash, thinly sliced
• 1/2 c vegetable stock, white wine, or water
• 2 c cooked wheat berries
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into wedges
• 1 c chopped fresh basil or parsley leaves
  

1. Put the oil in a large saucepan or deep skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. When hot, add the leek and sprinkle with salt and pepper, Cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the green beans and zucchini and stir to coat with oil. Stir in thevegetable stock.
   
2. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables are just starting to get tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Raise the heat a bit and stir in the wheat berries.
   
3. Cook, stirring frequently, until hot and bubbling, a minute or two. Stir in the tomatoes, season again with salt and pepper, cover, and turn off the heat. After about 5 minutes, add the herb and fluff the stew gently with a fork. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve right away or at room temperature (up to an hour or so later), drizzled with a little more olive oil if you like.

Carolyn follows with "I thought it tasted great. I actually made vegetable stock to use, which was super flavorful. Oh, and I used garbanzo beans (canned, don't think less of me) instead of wheat berries. I don't even know what wheat berries are...." And for the rest of you who don't know either (they're really not all that common): Wheatberry

For what it's worth, we use garbanzo beans/chick peas in a lot of stuff...just used 'em in minestrone last week!

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