Spaghetti with White Bean Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red onion, very finely chop
• ½ red bell pepper, ¼" dice
• 3 celery stalks, ¼" dice
• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 1 cup vegetable stock or bean cooking liquid
• ¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• ½ tsp hot pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• 8 to 10 oz spaghetti
• 1 to 2 oz freshly grated romano cheese for serving

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a nonstick frying pan.
2. Add the garlic, onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook over medium heat until soft but not brown, about 4 minutes.
3. Stir in the white beans and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add the stock or bean liquid, half the parsley, pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste.
5. The sauce should be highly seasoned.
6. Simmer until the beans are quite soft, about 20 minutes.
7. Coarsely mash the beans with a fork.
8. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot in 4 quarts rapidly boiling salted water until al dente, about 8 minutes.
9. Drain well.
10. Meanwhile, bring the sauce to a boil.
11. Transfer the spaghetti sauce in a large shallow bowl and mix well.
12. Sprinkle spaghetti with the remaining parsley and serve at once with freshly grated cheese on top.

Nutritional information

Per serving:

• 347 calories | 74g pro | 62g carb | 5g fat (13%) | 1.8g fiber | .4 mg chol | 27g sod
• exchanges: .2 veg | 3.6 bread | .4 meat | .7 fat