Hearty soup

[weaverbird]

Fall is soup weather! This recipe is a good soup for cooler weather - hearty, filling, healthy and thrifty. It uses dried legumes, as being both healthier for you and less expensive than the canned variety, but feel free to substitute canned if you don't have the time or inclination to simmer beans.




SOOP
Ingredients
1 cup white beans, picked over and rinsed (navy beans, small whites or whatever type you prefer)
1 bay leaf
8 c. water +/-

3 T. olive oil for sautéing
2 medium onions, diced
2 large carrots, pared and sliced: rounds, half-rounds – a good spoon size
1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

1 large bouillon cube (I use Knorr chicken or vegetable)
½ t. black pepper (or more, to taste)
1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano
1 heaping teaspoon dried basil
Hot pepper flakes to taste
1 can (28 oz.) tomatoes (I use diced)
1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
½ cup pearl barley, picked over and rinsed
1 cup coarsely shredded green cabbage

Method
Put white beans, bay leaf and water in heavy pot with lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until beans are tender (about an hour). Strain beans, reserving them and the cooking water.

In the same pot sauté the onions in olive oil on medium-high heat until beginning to brown nicely. Add the carrots and continue to cook and stir a few minutes more. Add the garlic and celery, cook and stir for 1 minute or so, but don't let the garlic brown.

Stir in the seasonings and mix well, then add the tomatoes, stirring well again.

Pour the bean cooking water back into the pot with the bay leaf. Add the lentils, pearl barley and cabbage and stir to combine everything. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are done, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and add the reserved white beans. Stir well and let sit, covered, a few more minutes to heat the beans.

Optional: toss in a handful or two of frozen peas and/or corn niblets along with the reserved white beans. The heat of the soup with thaw and cook them while it warms the beans.

Yield: 6 generous servings

Notes:
-- all quantities are flexible - add more of what you like or less of what you don't.
-- try different vegetables and/ or different beans. This soup is a template that works with endless combinations
-- experiment with different seasonings. I often leave out the basil & oregano and substitute a mix of cumin seed, turmeric powder, coriander powder, fennel seed and fenugreek powder, plus a thumb size piece of ginger root, minced, for a curry-type flavor.
-- the barley thickens the soup to almost a stew-like consistency. Omit if you prefer a "soupier" soup, so to speak.
-- this soup reheats well and even tastes good cold right from the fridge, so it's great for cook-ahead lunches.

Comments

[lot]

Now that does sound good. I just need the weather to cooperate because it's still too warm for soup here :/

[weaverbird]

Once you get soup weather, I hope you like this one. *g*

[pebblerocker]

It's spring here, but I see no reason to stop making soups! This is more or less exactly what I ate for dinner two nights last week. It always tastes even better the next day, PLUS I don't have to do anything but reheat it.

I pour away the bean-cooking water, though, and use fresh water in the soup. I don't like the grey scummy stuff floating on it and I suspect it of being full of farts.

[weaverbird]

Oh, agreed! I eat soup year-round, too. In hot weather especially, reheating a bowl of soup is ideal because it doesn't hot the kitchen. And yep, it tastes even better the next day.

Hmmmm, if my bean cooking water had grey scummy stuff floating on it, I'd throw it out too! Mine's a light amber color with no scum. I wonder why we get such different results? And as for the farts - I have read, and experience confirms, that if your digestive system is accustomed to dried beans - that is, if you eat them frequently - it adjusts accordingly and the farts stop. *g*

[pebblerocker]

Maybe my beans need thorough rinsing before cooking? Not all beans do this to me, but most types do. Black-eyed beans make grey scum. Pinto beans make pinkish scum. I think white beans are the best type for not being scummy.

[weaverbird]

I agree that white beans give you the clearest stock. I've actually used the cooking water from black beans to dye silk yarn (it made a nice grey)!

And yes, I'd definitely recommend rinsing beans before cooking.

[st_aurafina]

Soup! I cook it all the year around, and I love cooking with beans, so this looks like a winner for me. Thank you!

[weaverbird]

You're welcome! I see we are of like minds re soup and beans. They are year-round staples for me, too.