Herbed French Vegetable Stew

This stew was inspired by a lot vegetables that I just had on hand and was very simple to put together in a big dutch oven. Letting it stew for several hours gave the apartment a nice warm aroma and tasting it gave me a nice warm comfy feeling inside..... mmm... I could just sit and watch the snowfall and watch a good movie while eating this stew.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2-3 large waxy potatoes
1 large onion
1 can of green beans, or about 2 cups of frozen french cut green beans
2 cloves garlic
2 cubes vegetable bullion or 3-4 cups of vegetable broth
herbs de province
1 tbs tomatoe paste
parmesan cheese (optional)
3 tbs pesto rosso (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper

I first diced the onion, celery and garlic, and sauteed them in about 2 tbs olive oil until the onions were transparents and the herbs were fragrant.
Then, I julliened the potatoes and carrots. I added these and the vegetable bullion cubes, plus 4 cups of water to the dutch oven and brought this to a slow simmer.
I then added the tomato paste, pesto, and salt and peper, gave it a stir, and continued to let simmer for 2 hours. By then, the vegetables had soaked up much of the broth, and rather than be soup-like, it was a delicious hearty winter stew.
Bon Apetit!