Green beans with potatoes stew

Green beans make the list of my favorite winter food, so on yet another chilly day as today, here is what I've made for us:

Ingredients


1 onion
1 leek
1/2 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 red pepper
2 large potatoes
2 handfuls green beans
4 cups boiling water
1 tb. sp. olive oil
ground red pepper
ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic
basil
parsley
mint
salt


Method


1. Saute the onion and leek for a couple of minutes. Then add the red pepper and the tomatoes. Continue cooking for a couple of more minutes, while you peel and chop the potatoes in small cubes.
2. Add the potatoes, the green beans, the spices (except for the ground red pepper, which you should add 5 min before you remove the pot from the stove) and the hot water to the pot and continue cooking until the potatoes are ready. 

I love vegan dishes, so this was a very delicious meal in my book. However, dear meat lovers, you can add red meat to the stew and you'll be amazed. :)


I've been particularly interested in finding more information about cooking with vegetable oil. I know that it's unhealthy to have food cooked for too long with the vegetable oil in, since it floats to the surface, where the temperature much higher. So, when cooking, I just slightly coat the surface of the pan with olive oil and add however much extra is needed just before I remove the food from the stove. However, I'd really like to find out more about it, so if any of you dear readers have any thoughts on the subject, I'd love to hear from you. :)


A note on cooking with vegetable oils and olive oil in particular: Heating olive oil