French White Bean and Sweet Potato Stew

Due to my current dietary restrictions, standard potatoes (and by this I mean white-, yellow-, blue-, etc-fleshed potatoes of various skin tones), with their high glycemic index, starch- and sugar-content, are definitely off the table. Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are quite another story. One would think that with their candy-like taste and the word "sweet" in their name, sweet potatoes would be an even bigger sugar-bomb to the body -- but not so. With their high fiber content and moderate levels of starches and sugars, sweet potatoes provide a more balanced source of carbohydrates with a lower glycemic index, and are usually well-tolerated by those with blood-sugar sensitivities of whatever variety.

I've had great fun playing with sweet potatoes in recipes that typically call for standard potatoes, and continuing to discover a surprising and delightful number of highly complementary herbs, sauces, cooking techniques and compatible ingredients that I believe I would not have thought of without my imposed limitations. This recipe came out of a long-postponed craving for French flavors, and this new version is to me far superior than the original (found under "French Vegetable Bean Stew" in the Moosewood Collective's Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites). The texture and rich, complex, sweet-and-savory flavor imparted by the sweet potatoes brings out deeper notes and more vivid harmonies in the marriage of tomatoes, white beans, rosemary and tarragon -- something I previously thought impossible. This, then, I suppose is my personal lesson-of-the-day: that there is an up-side to living with a finicky body's quirks and restraints. Sometimes when you have to work within limits, you get something you would have overlooked if blessed with every possibility under the sun.

Before we get to the recipe, I should clarify what I mean by sweet potatoes here: Americans, and thus American markets, call true sweet potatoes "yams", and you will uniformly find so-called "Jewel yams" and "Garnet yams" in the produce section of most every grocery in the country. These are not, however, yams -- true yams are a pale skinned, white-fleshed, highly-starchy tuber that are most commonly used throughout Asia and in Asian cuisine (and are WAY high-glycemic, for good measure). True sweet potatoes have a moderate-to-dark orange flesh, are extremely high in A vitamins (one serving of this soup provides 262% RDA), and are far more nutritious. So double-check your shopping list before making the stew and, at the market, delight in confusing the heck out of your grocer if they aren't sure which tuber you're looking for -- perhaps after a few thousand more folk point out the mix-up in terminology, we'll start a movement of accurate labeling. Hey, it could happen...

French White Bean and Sweet Potato Stew
yields six 1-cup portions

2-3 Tbsp water, broth or vegetable steam-water
360 g shredded yellow onion
17 g/5 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp + 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
270 g sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
2 15-oz cans "petite diced" tomatoes, undrained
1/2 c white wine (I prefer white Bordeaux)
215 g carrots, cut in half lengthwise then into 1/2-inch half-moon slices
250 g cooked navy beans
1 tsp dried tarragon (or 2 tsp fresh, which is well worth the hunt if you can find it!)
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
2-3 Tbsp minced curly parsley

1. In a covered skillet or stir-fry pan, saute the onions, garlic, ground fennel and 1/2 tsp of the salt in the water or broth over medium heat until the onions are completely soft and starting to reduce (10-15 minutes), stirring occasionally.

2. Add the sweet potatoes, canned tomatoes with their juices, white wine and carrots; re-cover and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy. When the carrots are al dente the sweet potatoes will be somewhat softer; make sure the sweet potatoes don't get to the fall-apart stage, even if that means leaving the carrots a little firm, they will soften as the stew sits.

3. Stir in the cooked navy beans, dried tarragon and lemon pepper; re-cover and simmer 5-10 minutes more or until flavors have blended and the beans have absorbed some of the stew liquid.

4. Stir in the fresh rosemary and parsley, add some or all of the additional 1/2 Tbsp of salt according to your taste, and give a final thorough stir before re-covering; turn off the heat and allow pan to sit on the warm burner for 10-20 minutes before serving, giving the flavors time to meld and the liquids time to thicken. Serve hot.

Total Calories: 1134
Nutrition per 1-cup serving: 189 cal/1 g fat/38 g carbohydrates/10 g fiber/6 g sugars/7 g protein