Crown beans with jewel- toned salad for a fresh, flavorful meal

Move over “put an egg on it” — and make way for “top it with a salad.”

Just like a fried egg atop just about anything transforms it into a craveable meal ( the trend has a popular Instagram hashtag to prove it), a heap of salad piled onto just about anything refreshes it instantly with a modern, healthful sensibility. Mound arugula salad on top of a slice of pizza, and presto, you have a stunning, balanced plate. Stack dressed greens onto a platform of grilled chicken breast to invert the usual presentation from boring to alluring. Layer avocado toast with a feathery pile of frisée to take it to new heights, in every sense of the word.

That’s the idea behind this dish, where a crisp, jeweltoned salad crowns a warm, white bean stew for a simple but splendid meal in a bowl.

It’ s very week nightfriendly, since the stew uses canned beans and comes together quickly — although you could certainly rely on dried beans that you cook yourself. The beans are simmered in broth ( use vegetable broth to make this dish vegan) with toasted garlic, rosemary and a strip of lemon peel, for just 10 minutes, long enough to infuse them with aromatic flavor and allow them to break down a bit.

Mashing some of the beans in the saucepan as they cook, helps create a thick, saucy stew, which is served topped with a salad of thinly sliced radicchio and matchsticks of green apple simply dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Together, they are a yinyang of color and flavor, the fresh salad with its pleasant bitterness and lovely layer of tartness contrasting the comforting ear t hiness of the warm stew. With that, you can add stew to the list of dishes that are rocketed by “put a salad on it,” a list that I’d say is long enough to get that hashtag trending, too.