Both my SO and I have gotten great New Year's presents: little viral bundles of joy. We don't know who gave them to us, but they've certainly been having great fun in our respiratory systems.
So, we've been in the mood for soups, and today my SO cooked up our favorite Thai soup. If you've eaten at Thai restaurants, you'll likely recognize this soup (or something similar). This soup is loaded with strong flavors (galangal, lemongrass, chili peppers, and the traditional Thai fish sauce), and thus should always be served with copious quantities of plain rice (we mix the rice right into the soup as we eat). This soup is the perfect dish for a cold winter day, and since it made for a delicious sick-day breakfast1, it's this week's end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
8 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup fish sauce
4-inch piece fresh galangal (or ginger), roughly chopped (unpeeled)
2 4-inch pieces of lemongrass stalk, washed and chopped into 1/4-1/2-inch long pieces
10 kaffir lime leaves, torn into several pieces (optional)
4 red jalapeños or other chili peppers, seeded, deveined, and cut into strips
2/3 cup lime juice (or lemon juice)
1 can (~13.5 fl. oz.) coconut milk
1/2 - 1 pound chicken (sliced into ~1/4-inch-thick slices) and/or tofu (cut into 1/4 - 1/2-inch cubes)
chopped cilantro (optional; as a garnish)
cooked white or brown rice (we'd suggest cooking about 2/3 - 1 cup of dry white or brown rice per large bowlful of soup)
0. Prepare plain white or brown rice to serve with the soup. We cook up about 2 cups dry white rice for the two of us when we make this soup for a full meal, and have relatively little rice left over but have about half the soup left over.
1. Add the chicken stock and fish sauce to a pot and bring to a simmer.
2. If you have cheesecloth available, wrap the galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, and lime leaves in a large piece of it and tie into a bundle (to make removing them from the broth easier).
3. Add the galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, and lime leaves to the simmering stock, and cook for 10 minutes.
4. If you haven't wrapped the galangal (or ginger), lemongrass, and lime leaves in cheesecloth, strain them out of the broth now.
5. Add the lime (or lemon) juice and jalapeños, and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.
6. If you used cheesecloth (in step 2), remove the cheesecloth bundle now. Add the coconut milk and chicken and/or tofu, and simmer until the chicken is cooked and/or the tofu is heated through (~3 minutes).
7. Serve along with plain white or brown steamed rice, garnished with chopped cilantro (if desired).
Notes:
Obtaining the ingredients for this dish requires finding a market that stocks Asian ingredients. In our area, fish sauce and coconut milk can be found in the Asian section of most supermarkets, but items like fresh lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves are found only in specialty Asian markets that stock Thai ingredients (look in the produce section).
Don't despair if you can't find fresh galangal or lime leaves; we've made the soup many times using just fresh ginger in place of the galangal and omitting the lime leaves, and it's been fine. While galangal and ginger don't taste identical, they're fairly similar. Galangal, ginger, and lime leaves store fine for months in the freezer (ginger and galangal don't even have to be wrapped to freeze). However, we would advise against using dried ginger or galangal, as the drying process dramatically changes their flavors. We don't know how using dried lemongrass would affect the soup, as we always use fresh (see below). We've never served the soup with the cilantro garnish, but it is traditional.
If you live in the Southern California area and know that you like Thai food, you might consider growing your own lemongrass, as it does well here. We planted a tiny plant a few years ago, and besides rare waterings it's just about taken care of itself (while growing into a nice-smelling, rather attractive 5-foot wide plant). Note that lemongrass leaves are very sharp along the edges, so wear gloves while harvesting.
We based this recipe on one in Bhumichitr (1988).
Bhumichitr, Vatcharin, 1988. The Taste of Thailand. MacMillan, NY.
1 And, since the soup was so strongly flavored, we could actually taste it with our cold-impaired senses!
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soup. Show all posts
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Butternut squash soup
A few months ago my SO and I bought some butternut squash soup at Trader Joe's. We were impressed by the soup's smoothness and squashy flavor, and thus decided to try making a squash soup on our own. We just did that today, and the results were fantastic: the soup was thick and smooth, and filled with the flavors of sweet squash, spicy ginger, and savory onions. We roasted the squash's seeds along with the squash itself, and they made a great topping for the soup (they added concentrated bits of roasty flavor). This soup also has the benefit of being insanely healthy. Since we enjoyed this so much, it's this week's end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
3 to 3 1/2 lb. butternut squash, whole
Enough vegetable oil to lightly coat the squash seeds and a roasting pan
3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1 medium onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus extra for salting the squash seeds, if desired)
To make this recipe you need to first roast the squash, and then let it cool before making the soup.
Roasting the squash:
0. Preheat your oven to 400F.
1. Wash the squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Be careful while doing this, as winter squash skin can be extremely tough.
2. Using a spoon, scoop out the squash seeds (and the tissue holding them into the squash) and put them into a bowl.
3. Coat a baking pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil, place the squash cut-side down on this pan, and then bake at 400F until the squash is done (one hour or so; the skin should be browned and the flesh should be soft and easily pierced).
Roasting the squash seeds (optional):
1. Separate the squash seeds from the squash flesh; this is probably most easily done with your hands. After you've separated the seeds, put them into a bowl or strainer and wash until most of the squash goo is gone.
2. Mix the squash seeds with enough vegetable oil to coat, and put into a pan that's large enough to hold the seeds in a single layer.
3. Bake in a preheated 400F oven until lightly browned, approximately 5-10 minutes. We baked these along with the squash, though if your oven is too small for that, it would be fine to roast them after the squash is roasted.
4. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt, and stir.
Making the soup:
1. Once the squash has cooled, scoop the flesh of the squash out of the skin; set the flesh aside until needed.
2. Heat the butter in a large non-stick pot over medium-high heat.
3. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, scallions, and ginger, and cook until the onions are softened and just starting to brown (about 5-10 minutes).
4. Add the roasted squash flesh and four cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
5. Add the salt and the remaining two cups of chicken stock and puree the soup until smooth. We did this using an immersion blender, but a standard blender should work fine. If your blender is volume limited, you might want to blend the soup before adding the final two cups of chicken stock.
6. Serve the soup (heating it on the stove if necessary to bring it to your preferred temperature). Garnish with the roasted squash seeds, if desired.
Notes:
Radagast's SO enjoyed the soup with a sploosh of cream stirred into a bowlful, but Radagast preferred the soup without the cream. The cream made the soup creamier (who'd have guessed?), and seemed to mellow the flavor some.
The squash seeds make a tasty snack all on their own, so even if you don't think you'll like them in the soup, you may want to try roasting them anyway.
This recipe is modified from one Joy of Cooking (Rombauer et al. 1997). The original recipe used two leeks instead of the onions and scallions; we didn't have leeks on hand.
Rombauer, I. S., M. R. Becker, and E. Becker. 1997. Joy of Cooking. Scribner, NY.
3 to 3 1/2 lb. butternut squash, whole
Enough vegetable oil to lightly coat the squash seeds and a roasting pan
3 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1 medium onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (plus extra for salting the squash seeds, if desired)
To make this recipe you need to first roast the squash, and then let it cool before making the soup.
Roasting the squash:
0. Preheat your oven to 400F.
1. Wash the squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Be careful while doing this, as winter squash skin can be extremely tough.
2. Using a spoon, scoop out the squash seeds (and the tissue holding them into the squash) and put them into a bowl.
3. Coat a baking pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil, place the squash cut-side down on this pan, and then bake at 400F until the squash is done (one hour or so; the skin should be browned and the flesh should be soft and easily pierced).
Roasting the squash seeds (optional):
1. Separate the squash seeds from the squash flesh; this is probably most easily done with your hands. After you've separated the seeds, put them into a bowl or strainer and wash until most of the squash goo is gone.
2. Mix the squash seeds with enough vegetable oil to coat, and put into a pan that's large enough to hold the seeds in a single layer.
3. Bake in a preheated 400F oven until lightly browned, approximately 5-10 minutes. We baked these along with the squash, though if your oven is too small for that, it would be fine to roast them after the squash is roasted.
4. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt, and stir.
Making the soup:
1. Once the squash has cooled, scoop the flesh of the squash out of the skin; set the flesh aside until needed.
2. Heat the butter in a large non-stick pot over medium-high heat.
3. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, scallions, and ginger, and cook until the onions are softened and just starting to brown (about 5-10 minutes).
4. Add the roasted squash flesh and four cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
5. Add the salt and the remaining two cups of chicken stock and puree the soup until smooth. We did this using an immersion blender, but a standard blender should work fine. If your blender is volume limited, you might want to blend the soup before adding the final two cups of chicken stock.
6. Serve the soup (heating it on the stove if necessary to bring it to your preferred temperature). Garnish with the roasted squash seeds, if desired.
Notes:
Radagast's SO enjoyed the soup with a sploosh of cream stirred into a bowlful, but Radagast preferred the soup without the cream. The cream made the soup creamier (who'd have guessed?), and seemed to mellow the flavor some.
The squash seeds make a tasty snack all on their own, so even if you don't think you'll like them in the soup, you may want to try roasting them anyway.
This recipe is modified from one Joy of Cooking (Rombauer et al. 1997). The original recipe used two leeks instead of the onions and scallions; we didn't have leeks on hand.
Rombauer, I. S., M. R. Becker, and E. Becker. 1997. Joy of Cooking. Scribner, NY.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Oden
Oden is a traditional Japanese stew that's often served in the fall and winter by street vendors at little sidewalk stalls. We're somewhat chagrined to admit it, but our interest in oden was spawned, at least in part, by the fox spirit oden stand in xxxHolic, a manga (and now anime) by Clamp. The oden looked so good, and the fox spirits were so cute, that we just had to try some.
Oden is typically filled with an array of tasty bits, often including various types of tofu, fish cakes, and root vegetables. The flavoring is relatively subtle; much like sushi, this isn't a dish that's going to blow you away with spices. The main flavorings are dashi (fish stock), soy sauce, sake, mirin, a little sugar, and the savory flavors the other ingredients release after being simmered for a few hours. That's it. The joy of this dish comes from comparing the subtle flavor and texture differences between the various ingredients, all the while being warmed to the core with steaming hot, savory broth. This is a great soup for a cold winter evening, and thus it's this week's end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
6 hard-boiled eggs
3 carrots, peeled
3 red (or other waxy) potatoes
~6 inches daikon root, peeled
1 burdock root (gobo, scrubbed but not peeled)
1 block extra firm tofu (~19oz)
1 block fried tofu (abura-age or atsu-age, ~9oz)
1 package fried tofu and vegetable balls (ganmodoki, ~4oz)
1 block yam cake (konnyaku, ~10oz)
1 fish cake (kamaboko, ~6oz)
1 broiled/grilled fish cake (yakichikuwa, ~6.5oz)
1 tubular gluten cake (chikuwabu, ~5oz)
3/4 cup low salt soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
3 tablespoons sugar
Enough dashi to cover (~12 cups, but may vary widely)
Japanese mustard (karashi; we use prepared neri wakarashi that comes in a small tube)
0. We've read that boiling the yam cake can remove some bitterness; to do this, simmer the yam cake in a pot of water for ~5 minutes.
1. Cut all the solid ingredients into large pieces (~1 1/2-inch cubes or slices for most items; cut the gluten cake into ~1/2" slices, and the fish cakes into ~1/4" thick slices, as they may expand during cooking). The pieces should be a good size to pick up with chopsticks.
2. Put all ingredients except the mustard into a large pot and bring to a bare simmer.
3. Simmer very gently, covered, for at least 1 hour, stirring infrequently; the longer the oden simmers the better (aim for at least 2 hours). You don't want the oden to boil rapidly, as this may cause the ingredients to fall apart.
4. Serve in bowls; attempt to place a sampling of each ingredient into each bowl. Serve with mustard on the side in little dipping bowls; we mix our mustard with a little bit of the oden broth to make a dipping sauce. Japanese mustard is very hot (much like wasabi), so use with caution.
Notes:
Oden is extremely customizable; it can be made with just a couple of ingredients or a whole host of them. We cobbled together the list above by perusing various recipes online, but there's nothing special about what we've included (and we most certainly make no claims as to the authenticity of this recipe). Use whatever you like, and experiment with proportions - the amounts listed above are just what we can easily pick up at our local Japanese market.
To make dashi from scratch, see our recipe here.
To hard-boil eggs, we cover raw eggs with warm tapwater (by at least 1") in a large pot, and then cover the pot and put it over high heat. Once the water boils, we reduce the heat and simmer the eggs for 15 minutes (for large or extra large eggs). Then we drain the hot water from the pot, fill the pot once or twice with cold tap water to stop the eggs from cooking, and then leave the eggs in a bowl of cold tap water until needed. You should be able to hard boil the eggs while you chop the rest of the ingredients.
We don't particularly like the yam cake (we left it out of our most recent batch), but we've included it in the recipe becuase it's apparently a traditional addition to Oden.
Oden is typically filled with an array of tasty bits, often including various types of tofu, fish cakes, and root vegetables. The flavoring is relatively subtle; much like sushi, this isn't a dish that's going to blow you away with spices. The main flavorings are dashi (fish stock), soy sauce, sake, mirin, a little sugar, and the savory flavors the other ingredients release after being simmered for a few hours. That's it. The joy of this dish comes from comparing the subtle flavor and texture differences between the various ingredients, all the while being warmed to the core with steaming hot, savory broth. This is a great soup for a cold winter evening, and thus it's this week's end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
6 hard-boiled eggs
3 carrots, peeled
3 red (or other waxy) potatoes
~6 inches daikon root, peeled
1 burdock root (gobo, scrubbed but not peeled)
1 block extra firm tofu (~19oz)
1 block fried tofu (abura-age or atsu-age, ~9oz)
1 package fried tofu and vegetable balls (ganmodoki, ~4oz)
1 block yam cake (konnyaku, ~10oz)
1 fish cake (kamaboko, ~6oz)
1 broiled/grilled fish cake (yakichikuwa, ~6.5oz)
1 tubular gluten cake (chikuwabu, ~5oz)
3/4 cup low salt soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
3 tablespoons sugar
Enough dashi to cover (~12 cups, but may vary widely)
Japanese mustard (karashi; we use prepared neri wakarashi that comes in a small tube)
0. We've read that boiling the yam cake can remove some bitterness; to do this, simmer the yam cake in a pot of water for ~5 minutes.
1. Cut all the solid ingredients into large pieces (~1 1/2-inch cubes or slices for most items; cut the gluten cake into ~1/2" slices, and the fish cakes into ~1/4" thick slices, as they may expand during cooking). The pieces should be a good size to pick up with chopsticks.
2. Put all ingredients except the mustard into a large pot and bring to a bare simmer.
3. Simmer very gently, covered, for at least 1 hour, stirring infrequently; the longer the oden simmers the better (aim for at least 2 hours). You don't want the oden to boil rapidly, as this may cause the ingredients to fall apart.
4. Serve in bowls; attempt to place a sampling of each ingredient into each bowl. Serve with mustard on the side in little dipping bowls; we mix our mustard with a little bit of the oden broth to make a dipping sauce. Japanese mustard is very hot (much like wasabi), so use with caution.
Notes:
Oden is extremely customizable; it can be made with just a couple of ingredients or a whole host of them. We cobbled together the list above by perusing various recipes online, but there's nothing special about what we've included (and we most certainly make no claims as to the authenticity of this recipe). Use whatever you like, and experiment with proportions - the amounts listed above are just what we can easily pick up at our local Japanese market.
To make dashi from scratch, see our recipe here.
To hard-boil eggs, we cover raw eggs with warm tapwater (by at least 1") in a large pot, and then cover the pot and put it over high heat. Once the water boils, we reduce the heat and simmer the eggs for 15 minutes (for large or extra large eggs). Then we drain the hot water from the pot, fill the pot once or twice with cold tap water to stop the eggs from cooking, and then leave the eggs in a bowl of cold tap water until needed. You should be able to hard boil the eggs while you chop the rest of the ingredients.
We don't particularly like the yam cake (we left it out of our most recent batch), but we've included it in the recipe becuase it's apparently a traditional addition to Oden.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Clear Japanese soup with soba
It's been cold here recently (we got frost here a few weeks ago), and thus my SO and I have been in the mood for soups. One of our current favorites is this quick and easy clear Japanese soup with soba. The broth is a great combination of savory, salty, and sweet, yet it's made from only three ingredients: dashi (the classic Japanese soup stock that's used in many dishes, including miso soup), soy sauce, and mirin (sweet sake). Since we just cooked up a batch of this today (to have as a drink, acutally; see notes), it's this week's end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
6 cups water
~4" piece konbu (~3-6 square inches)
1 package (10g / 0.35 oz) instant dashi powder (or 6 cups dashi in place of the water, konbu, and dashi powder)
1/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 bundles dry soba (100g / 3.5 oz each)
Nori, cut into thin strips (~1/8" x 2", but it doesn't matter) for garnishing
To make this soup we cook the noodles separately from the broth, put the noodles into a bowl, and then ladle as much broth as we want on top of the cooked noodles.
To make the broth:
1. Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot large enough to hold it.
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer, add the konbu, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the konbu and stir in the dashi powder, soy sauce, and mirin.
4. Keep warm until the soba is ready.
To cook the soba:
1. Follow the package directions. We add the dry soba to a pot of boiling water (not the soup stock), cook for 5 minutes, and then drain the soba.
To assemble the soup:
1. Place the desired amount of soba noodles in each bowl.
2. Ladle a sufficient amount of broth over the noodles.
3. Serve with thinly cut pieces of nori on the side, and extra broth on the table (or in the kitchen), for those who want more.
Notes:
Nori is the toasted sheets of seaweed that are often used to wrap sushi; it adds a nice, crunchy texture to the soup. However, the nori gets soggy quickly, and thus it's best to sprinkle on only a couple pieces at a time as you eat.
We typically use instant dashi powder (instead of making dashi from scratch) primarily because it's quicker and cheaper (shaved bonito is expensive!). If you're using dashi stock instead of the instant powder, just bring the dashi to a simmer and then add the soy sauce and mirin.
Soba are Japanese buckwheat noodles; they're typically brownish in color. We try to get brands that have a high buckwheat content, as many manufacturers dilute the buckwheat with regular wheat flour.
This recipe scales extremely well; make as little or as much as you want. Leftover broth stores extremely well, but soba should ideally be cooked fresh (it gets soggy with storage), so only cook up as much soba as you plan on eating in one sitting.
This soup makes an excellent savory drink as well. My SO and I sometimes make this recipe (leaving out the soba and nori) to drink on on cold days or whenever we're tired of our usual assortment of drinks.
As with all our recipes, we make no representation as to the authenticity of this recipe; in fact, from what we know, soba is most often eaten drained and dipped into small bowls of sauce.
6 cups water
~4" piece konbu (~3-6 square inches)
1 package (10g / 0.35 oz) instant dashi powder (or 6 cups dashi in place of the water, konbu, and dashi powder)
1/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
1/4 cup mirin
2 bundles dry soba (100g / 3.5 oz each)
Nori, cut into thin strips (~1/8" x 2", but it doesn't matter) for garnishing
To make this soup we cook the noodles separately from the broth, put the noodles into a bowl, and then ladle as much broth as we want on top of the cooked noodles.
To make the broth:
1. Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot large enough to hold it.
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer, add the konbu, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Remove the konbu and stir in the dashi powder, soy sauce, and mirin.
4. Keep warm until the soba is ready.
To cook the soba:
1. Follow the package directions. We add the dry soba to a pot of boiling water (not the soup stock), cook for 5 minutes, and then drain the soba.
To assemble the soup:
1. Place the desired amount of soba noodles in each bowl.
2. Ladle a sufficient amount of broth over the noodles.
3. Serve with thinly cut pieces of nori on the side, and extra broth on the table (or in the kitchen), for those who want more.
Notes:
Nori is the toasted sheets of seaweed that are often used to wrap sushi; it adds a nice, crunchy texture to the soup. However, the nori gets soggy quickly, and thus it's best to sprinkle on only a couple pieces at a time as you eat.
We typically use instant dashi powder (instead of making dashi from scratch) primarily because it's quicker and cheaper (shaved bonito is expensive!). If you're using dashi stock instead of the instant powder, just bring the dashi to a simmer and then add the soy sauce and mirin.
Soba are Japanese buckwheat noodles; they're typically brownish in color. We try to get brands that have a high buckwheat content, as many manufacturers dilute the buckwheat with regular wheat flour.
This recipe scales extremely well; make as little or as much as you want. Leftover broth stores extremely well, but soba should ideally be cooked fresh (it gets soggy with storage), so only cook up as much soba as you plan on eating in one sitting.
This soup makes an excellent savory drink as well. My SO and I sometimes make this recipe (leaving out the soba and nori) to drink on on cold days or whenever we're tired of our usual assortment of drinks.
As with all our recipes, we make no representation as to the authenticity of this recipe; in fact, from what we know, soba is most often eaten drained and dipped into small bowls of sauce.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Senate bean soup (or: how to use up all that extra ham)
You bought a 15-pound ham a week ago, and have now made three dinners, five sandwiches, one pasta dish, and a couple of breakfasts from it, but you've still got a few pounds left. Don't you dare ponder throwing away those last few pounds of meat and bone: they're the perfect starting point for possibly the tastiest classic American soup.
Senate bean soup is apparently served daily in the US Senate restaurant, and it seems like there are a few dozen different versions of the recipe (including an official one on the Senate's website). My SO and I first found this recipe in Joy of Cooking, and have been happily making this soup ever since when we buy a ham. This soup is hearty and savory, and it makes great lunches or dinners on cold winter days. The soup also freezes well, so making a large batch can supply you with meals for months to come.
We made this soup last weekend, so it's this week's first end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
4 cups dry navy beans
Leftover ham, including the bone (we used 5 pounds, including bone, of an approximately 12-pound ham)
22 cups water (not including water to soak the beans in)
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 stalks celery, with leaves, washed and sliced
4 large onions, diced
4 potatoes, washed and diced into ~3/8" cubes
8 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed with a garlic press
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Salt to taste (we used ~1 tablespoon kosher salt)
0) Cover the beans with at least 2" of water in a large bowl, and leave them to soak overnight in the fridge. If you're in a hurry, you can heat water to near boiling and pour it over the beans and soak for about an hour. If you're really in a hurry, you could probably get away without soaking the beans, and just increase the cooking time in step 1.
1) Drain the beans and put them in a large pot with the ham and water. If all the water doesn't fit in the pot initially, that's OK (as long as the ham and beans are covered). Bring to a boil and simmer until the beans are tender (~ 1 1/4 hours).
2) Remove the ham from the pot (caution: it's hot, and will be falling apart) and set it aside to cool.
3) Mash the beans slightly with a potato masher; this is optional, but makes the soup a bit creamier in texture.
4) Add the carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, and garlic.
5) Once the ham is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone and cut into bite-sized pieces. Our ham often ends up very irregularly shaped (torn in some places, neat cubes in others), which adds a rustic note. If you left out any water above (in step 1), add it now.
6) Cook the soup for ~20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
7) Add the ham pieces and pepper, taste the soup, and adjust the salt level. If the ham pieces are cooler than you'd like, simmer the soup for a bit to heat them up.
Joy of Cooking recommends garnishing the soup with parsley.
Notes:
This recipe is scaled up to use a large amount of ham (and could probably feed the entire US Senate); if you have less ham (or want to buy a small ham hock), just scale down the recipe. Don't worry if you can't evenly divide the number of carrots and other vegetables if you scale the recipe; just pick a number and go with it.
The amounts (and even type) of ingredients in this recipe are relatively flexible. For instance, the original recipe omits carrots and uses more celery; we've made it both ways. We also rarely measure the amount of ham we use - we just take a ballpark guess and choose amounts of the other ingredients that seem to match. Sometimes the soup is extra hammy (as this version is), and sometimes it's more beany or vegetabley; it's always good.
Rombauer, I. S., M. R. Becker, and E. Becker. 1997. Joy of Cooking. Scribner, NY.
Senate bean soup is apparently served daily in the US Senate restaurant, and it seems like there are a few dozen different versions of the recipe (including an official one on the Senate's website). My SO and I first found this recipe in Joy of Cooking, and have been happily making this soup ever since when we buy a ham. This soup is hearty and savory, and it makes great lunches or dinners on cold winter days. The soup also freezes well, so making a large batch can supply you with meals for months to come.
We made this soup last weekend, so it's this week's first end-of-the-week recipe blogging post.
4 cups dry navy beans
Leftover ham, including the bone (we used 5 pounds, including bone, of an approximately 12-pound ham)
22 cups water (not including water to soak the beans in)
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 stalks celery, with leaves, washed and sliced
4 large onions, diced
4 potatoes, washed and diced into ~3/8" cubes
8 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed with a garlic press
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
Salt to taste (we used ~1 tablespoon kosher salt)
0) Cover the beans with at least 2" of water in a large bowl, and leave them to soak overnight in the fridge. If you're in a hurry, you can heat water to near boiling and pour it over the beans and soak for about an hour. If you're really in a hurry, you could probably get away without soaking the beans, and just increase the cooking time in step 1.
1) Drain the beans and put them in a large pot with the ham and water. If all the water doesn't fit in the pot initially, that's OK (as long as the ham and beans are covered). Bring to a boil and simmer until the beans are tender (~ 1 1/4 hours).
2) Remove the ham from the pot (caution: it's hot, and will be falling apart) and set it aside to cool.
3) Mash the beans slightly with a potato masher; this is optional, but makes the soup a bit creamier in texture.
4) Add the carrots, celery, onions, potatoes, and garlic.
5) Once the ham is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone and cut into bite-sized pieces. Our ham often ends up very irregularly shaped (torn in some places, neat cubes in others), which adds a rustic note. If you left out any water above (in step 1), add it now.
6) Cook the soup for ~20 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
7) Add the ham pieces and pepper, taste the soup, and adjust the salt level. If the ham pieces are cooler than you'd like, simmer the soup for a bit to heat them up.
Joy of Cooking recommends garnishing the soup with parsley.
Notes:
This recipe is scaled up to use a large amount of ham (and could probably feed the entire US Senate); if you have less ham (or want to buy a small ham hock), just scale down the recipe. Don't worry if you can't evenly divide the number of carrots and other vegetables if you scale the recipe; just pick a number and go with it.
The amounts (and even type) of ingredients in this recipe are relatively flexible. For instance, the original recipe omits carrots and uses more celery; we've made it both ways. We also rarely measure the amount of ham we use - we just take a ballpark guess and choose amounts of the other ingredients that seem to match. Sometimes the soup is extra hammy (as this version is), and sometimes it's more beany or vegetabley; it's always good.
Rombauer, I. S., M. R. Becker, and E. Becker. 1997. Joy of Cooking. Scribner, NY.
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