It’s a soup kind of Sunday. Yes, I know it’s 90+ degrees down here in sunny Florida
Anyway, as I said, my Fantasy Football draft is tonight and I believe I’ve got a great strategy. No, I’m not sharing because I don’t want to give my secrets away and I’m too competitive to share anyway. Okay, one secret – I’m making dinner that will be done during the draft and all I’ll have to do is ladle and enjoy. Priorities, after all. J
I’ve become a really big fan of the dried bean lately. So inexpensive, so easy and there are just so many delicious options out there. So, I decided to do a soup that featured a dried bean. I know I made a navy bean and bacon soup back in March that was fabulous but this soup takes it to a whole new level with the addition of another protein – chicken. The bean I’m using in this soup is the Great Northern bean – a delicately flavored white bean that is easily found in both dried and canned varieties. They absorb flavor quite fantastically and provide an excellent amount of protein and fiber – both very important in a healthy diet. And, if you’re anemic or iron-deficient, you should definitely look to supplementing your diet with beans because they pack a pretty strong punch where iron is concerned too. Okay, enough of my “healthy eating” soapbox. Now back to the deliciousness.
This soup is not difficult to pull together at all nor does it require a lengthy and expensive shopping list. Seriously, most everyone already has onions, garlic and celery on hand (aka the “cooking trinity” or base of most dishes), as well as salt and cayenne pepper. And, if you’re like me, you probably have a ton of those cans and/or boxes of various flavored broths readily available in your pantry. So, what you may need to buy is a bag of beans, shallots, some chicken and some bacon. That’s pretty much less than $10 and you can feed a crowd or pack lunches for a few days after the fact. That’s a winner in my book and should be in yours if you’re a budget-conscious family. You might have noticed that I left the cheese off that shopping list and are wondering why. Well, pecorino Romano cheese can be a little pricey - $5 or $6 for a wedge – and you may not want to spend that. So, I’m calling the cheese a splurge. Go for it but the soup will not be any less fantastic without it. And, if you happen to already have Parmesan in your fridge, use that instead if you want. Parmesan is not as nutty flavored and salty as pecorino Romano but it will add a nice flavoring. I imagine lots of you already have Parmesan in your house and you use it regularly to top spaghetti. Well, I give you permission to use it to top soups too. J
One other thing before I get to the finished product – shallots. You may be wondering what a shallot is. Shallots are very similar to onions but it has a sweeter and milder taste but still a very potent flavor that adds depth into the recipe – oh, and they cost a little more than onion. If you cannot find them in your grocery store, you can add a little more onion to your recipe or even chop some green onions and add that to your soup. It won’t give it the same flavor profile but it will still be just as tasty. (and yes, sometimes shallots can be very difficult to find in the store! You can usually find them near the garlic and onion bins but sometimes they’re stuffed off to the side in a weird place. Makes no sense.)
Okay, now for the good stuff. This soup is an Emeril recipe from his Prime Time Emeril cookbook. (yes, two in a row!) He says his mom always had a pot of soup simmering on the back of the stove. One day I would like to meet his mom and eat her food. Or, even better, have her SHOW me how to cook her food. Sharing food and recipes is so much fun. You know the best recipes hardly ever make it into cookbooks because they’re just shared in the kitchen by mothers teaching children how to make their favorite dishes. It’s history. You know what? History is delicious. And so is this soup.
The broth was flavored very nicely – glad I used sodium-free chicken stock! – and the chicken (which I grilled) was fabulous! The beans, even after soaking forEVER, still had some bite – that means they weren’t mush and that is a good thing. They added a nice textural difference to the vegetables which were soft and barely noticeable. The bacon, which makes everything better, provided a nice, salty yumminess. Don’t skimp on the bacon – get the real stuff. You want the fat for cooking the veggies and you definitely want the good, salty, homey, bacon-y flavor.
Have fun making this soup! And, for all the people in my fantasy league, get ready.
Happy cooking, drinking and eating!
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| bacon, bean and chicken yumminess! |
Chicken, Bacon, and White Bean Soup Portuguese-Style
1 pound dried white beans, such as white kidney (cannellini) or great Northerns, rinsed and picked over
½ pound bacon, cut into ½-inch-wide pieces
2 cups chopped yellow onions
½ cup chopped celery
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne
2 quarts chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth
¾ pound diced cooked chicken
1 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano
1. Put the beans into a large pot or bowl. Add water to cover by 2 inches and soak for at least 8 hours or overnight; drain. (For a quick soak, bring the beans and water to a boil over high heat and cook for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat and allow to stand for 1 hour. Drain.)
2. Fry the bacon in a heavy medium stockpot over medium-high heat until crisp, about 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to lift onto paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pot. Add the onions and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, bay leaves, salt and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots soften, about 1 minute.
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| bacon! |
3. Add the beans to the pot with the stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 1 ½ hours.
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| in go the beans |
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| stirring, stirring... |
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| simmer baby, simmer! |
4. Stir in the chicken and the reserved bacon and heat through. Remove and discard bay leaves.
5. Ladle into warm bowls and sprinkle with the grated cheese.
Serves: Lots of people (8 to 12) but in this house, 4 with plenty of leftovers for lunches during the week!
