There are nights when you want to think a little more about what you’re cooking, and nights when you want to think a little less.
This is for the latter. It’s a scrounging-around-for-something-good recipe, and it truly delivers, because the simple combination of ingredients includes a nice variety of textures and flavors. You skillet-cook the lot: black beans and baby spinach leaves, broccoli and cherry tomatoes. On top goes an avocado-and-lime mash, followed by a sprinkling of my favorite spice blend, za’atar (although you can skip that). The dish is so close to things I make fairly regularly and have never written down that when I saw it in a cookbook, I blinked, the way you do when you see an old friend in an unexpected place.
The recipe is adapted from Green Kitchen at Home.
½ head broccoli (about 8 ounces), cut into small florets
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
10 cherry tomatoes, each cut in half
About 3½ ounces (2 cups) baby spinach leaves
One 14-ounce can no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or more as needed
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more as needed
Flesh of 2 ripe avocados
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon za’atar, for serving
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until it softens, 5 minutes.
Add the broccoli; cook, stirring occasionally, until those pieces turn a brighter shade of green, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, spinach and beans; cook, stirring, until the spinach has barely wilted, 1 minute. Season with the salt and pepper; taste, and then add more salt and/or pepper as needed. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.
Mash the avocados in a bowl with a fork until smooth, then stir in the lime juice.
Serve the black beans and greens in bowls or deep plates, topped with dollops of avocado and a sprinkling of za’atar, if using.