<p>Fall to late winter is bean-y soup season for us. We like to eat dried legumes in the cold season because they “stick to your ribs”, and they’re so healthful. And cheap!</p>
<p>Do you make a tasty soup (or any other dish!!) that calls for dried legumes? Of course using canned beans is OK!!</p>
<p>I’m looking for a great Split Pea Soup recipe. Do you have one?</p>
<p>Lentils (brown, red, and French Puy) are another legume we love. Do you have a good recipe?</p>
<p>We love Epicurious’s Minestrone which calls for dried Great Northern beans [Minestrone</a> Recipe at Epicurious.com](<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Minestrone-11569]Minestrone”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Minestrone-11569)
The changes I make are: 2 cans of cannellini (white kidney) beans (drained and rinsed) and mash half of them (this thickens the soup nicely); if I can’t get kale, I’ll use Swiss chard or spinach; I don’t drain the canned tomatoes; add a parmesan cheese rind with the tomatoes; add three 4" fresh rosemary sprigs; garnish it with torn fresh basil leaves. Of course it tastes better the next day, but it’s still great the day I make it. </p>
<p>1/2 pound (1 heaped cup) lentils, rinsed and picked over
6 cups water, vegetable stock or chicken stock
1 medium onion, cut in half
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 bay leaf
Pinch of saffron
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
20 sprigs cilantro, tied into a bunch
Salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 medium or 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/2 pound winter squash (such as pumpkin or butternut squash) or sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
3 tablespoons tomato paste
Freshly ground pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Combine the lentils, water or stock, onion, garlic cloves and bay leaf in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Rub the saffron between your fingers and add to the pot, along with the turmeric and the cilantro. Reduce the heat, add salt to taste, cover and simmer 30 minutes.
Remove the onion and garlic cloves from the pot, and add the remaining ingredients except the parsley. Bring back to a simmer, cover and simmer 30 minutes or until the lentils and vegetables are tender. Discard the cilantro bundle, taste and adjust seasonings. Just before serving, stir in the parsley.</p>
<p>This is one of my favorite recipes by Rose Shulman. I usually substitute yams. Lentils are one of the highest glycemic index legumes = low calorie. Be sure to tie the cilantro together well so it can be removed.</p>
<p>^parent1986, thank you for this recipe! It sounds great! We love saffron, garlic, turmeric, cilantro, and ginger! We can get kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) most readily here, so I’ll try your recipe with that and report back. Yummm.</p>
<p>1lb dried navy beans
1 smoked hambone
1 C diced onion
1 1/2 C diced potatoes, skin on
1 C diced carrots
1/4 C diced celery
2 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
2 Tbs minced fresh parsley
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
6 C water
2 C vegetable, chicken, or beef stock
1 C tomato puree
salt and pepper to taste
1 C heavy cream</p>
<p>Prepare beans for cooking; soak overnight or use quick soak method. Rinse well. Place beans in stockpot with hambone, onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, garlic, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. Add water and stock. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer for about 2 hours or until beans are very soft, adding water as necessary. When beans are quite soft, stir in tomato puree, salt and pepper, and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf and stir in cream. Serve immediately.</p>
<p>I have done this in the crockpot. It is okay, but much better the next day if prepared this way.</p>
<p>Do I have to have a recipe? I take a basic soup recipe: broth, meat, vegetables (always with onions and carrots)… simmer, add lentils, taste before serving and add seasoning.</p>
<p>I had a great soup at a restaurant yesterday. I went and asked the chef what was in it: he started with chorizo sausage, cut up and sauteed it; used the oil to brown the onions and carrots; added broth and some butternut squash and canned garbanzo beans. Lightly spiced. Astonishingly good.</p>
<p>Indian Lentil Soup
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed (don’t rinse until you are ready to throw in soup)
8 cups water
35 oz. chopped tomatoes (I like the fire roasted tomatoes).
1 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped potatoes (I like Yukon gold).
2 tsp. salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
Parsley for garnish</p>
<p>Cook onions and garlic in small amount of oil until soft
Stir in spices and continue to cook for another 30 seconds
Add lentils and water and bring to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 15 minutes
Add potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots.
Simmer until veggies are tender (at least 20 minutes).
Salt/pepper
Garnish with minced fresh parsley</p>
<p>Great soup, although I had to brush my teeth immediately after eating yesterday so my braces didn’t get stained by the tumeric.</p>
<p>Today I cleaned out my freezer and decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff there - like chicken carcasses, frozen pesto, frozen white kidney beans, and various stuff in the fridge. Wasn’t really an exact recipe, but this is more or less what I did. Sort of an improvised version of a Sunset’s Country French Cooking’s recipe for Soup a la pistou which doesn’t have beans and does have pasta.</p>
<p>Mathmom’s Soupe a la pistou
Get a big pot. Fill with leftover chicken bones, a bay leaf or two, parsley if you have it (I didn’t), an onion, a stalk of celery and some carrots. Boil for an hour or so. Then strain and add one large sweet potato, a chopped onion, a chopped celery stock, four small chicken thighs, about a cup of frozen white kidney beans, some chopped carrots, a few tomatoes rescued from the snow and about half a large can of plum tomatoes, two or three table spoons of pesto, a bunch of basil leaves (somewhat the worse for the wear as they were rescued from the snow too), and some green beans. I just chopped and added stuff at intervals so that they would all be cooked at about the same time. (around 20 minutes after the first things went in). Serve with grated swiss cheese.</p>
<p>MMMM…I am going to print this page, all of these sound great. </p>
<p>Vegan Split Pea Soup (from Allrecipes)
(Don’t let the vegan part scare you, my carnivorous family loves this, and it is easy)</p>
<p>1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dried split peas
1/2 cup barley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
8-9 cups vegetable broth or water or a mix of the two (you can even use chicken broth if you aren’t vegetarian)
3 carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper</p>
<p>Directions
In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another hour, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.
Watch the bottom of your pot, as this soup is thick, and will burn if left alone too long</p>
<p>If you have a blender, this is a popular soup at my house:</p>
<p>Simmer together (with broth or water, doesn’t matter) (slightly better taste with broth):
tomatoes, onions, apple, squash (cut up), carrots, leeks, potatoes. Precise amounts don’t matter but if you use too much apple it gets too sweet. I mostly use two of everything and one apple and the results of one squash but I have pretty big squash. When simmered tender, put in blender and puree until smooth. If you want to make it more interesting, after pureeing, add corn kernels and chunks of sweet red pepper. Made with vegetable broth, it’s vegan; made with chicken broth, it tastes pretty rich. Sometimes I add some hot spices–I’m fond of Penzey’s Southwest Blend.</p>
<p>I often make fried tortilla strips to serve with soup. I cut up corn tortillas into strips about 1/2" wide, then fried them in just a little olive oil until they’re crisp. Add a little salt and they’re great.</p>
<p>At one point I hosted a chili fundraiser, and a top hit was the white chicken chili. Won’t post a recipe, as I just google it, and then adapt to my preferences and available ingredients. </p>
<p>There was also a vegetarian chili thread a while back, that contained some very nice sounding recipes.</p>
<p>I prefer to use chicken dark meat in my chili recipe. Also, I don’t like the mouth feel or taste of chili beans, thus I’ve never used them in my recipe. For years I used dried small kidney beans in my chili but lately have discovered cranberry beans, also known as roman beans. I think the texture of cranberry beans is lighter. In my most recent chili concoction I used beef short rib meat which I braised in red wine for about two hours.</p>
<p>Keep the ingredients simple:</p>
<p>your favorite meat
1/2 lbs. cranberry beans, dried
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 large can of diced tomatoes (and tomato liquid)
two bay leaves
cumin (to taste)
1 medium onion
chili powder or cayenne (to taste)
thick hot sauce such as smoked chipolte adobe or srriracha “Rooster” sauce (to taste)</p>
<p>-rinse the beans and soak them for at least 6 hours, reserve the soaking water.
-place the beans in a large saucepot, covered in water but not submerged too deeply
-bring the beans to a boil, then reduce heat, add bay leaves and simmer.
-if the water evaporates before the beans are tender, add a bit more, stirring ocassionally
-add chopped onion and celery and continue simmer for about 6-7 minutes
-remove bay leaves
-add tomato sauce
-add cumin, stir well
-add tomatoes, stir well
-add chili pepper or cayenne to the “heat level” you prefer. Stir well
-add hot sauce, if your tastebuds tell you that you need it
-add meat
-lower heat and simmer on very low heat for about 10 minutes.
Ready to serve</p>
<p>These recipes all sound delicious and I really appreciate your contributions!</p>
<p>Can I make a small request? For those of us living overseas, we don’t know what a “small bag of frozen corn” or a “large can of tomatoes” means! Could you please include a weight or volume measurement? I know it’s “just soup”; but if we can start from the same point, we can find success more quickly. Thank you very much!</p>
<p>GlobalNomad: the problem with amounts with soup, IMHO, is that everyone’s taste is different. Also, your local grocery store may sell frozen corn in a 250 gram bag, and if I told you 300 grams, you’d have to decide whether to buy two bags or not. </p>
<p>A “large can” means about half a kilo by weight. A small bag would be about 200 grams, more of less. </p>
<p>I choose to make most meals WITHOUT recipes, because that way I can tailor the meals to what I have, what’s in season at the store, and what I feel like eating. I just got back from the store, and I have a leek, a large shallot, two large potatoes, and an onion. In the freezer, I have some cherry tomatoes from this summer’s garden. These will all go into tonight’s soup, to be simmered in chicken broth (also from the freezer) before being pureed. If I gave you exact measurements, it would be a lie. The soup would also be good with two leeks, no shallot, two onions, one potato and vegetable broth. It would just be different.</p>
<p>The lentil stew recipe in the original New York Times Cookbook (Craig Claiborne) is delicious on a cold night; it calls for short ribs, which are surprisinglly expensive thewse days, and has the option of adding elbow macaroni as well. I don’t have the cookbook with me at the moment so I cannot provide the recipe but I recommend the cookbook, despite its age, because it has a number of good recipes and at this point is an artifact of American culinary history (goes back to the 1960s I think). Some tastes and expectations have changed, but it’s a good, solid foundation for some things.</p>