White Bean and Bacon Soup

So here we are. In a global Pandemic. Is this really happening? Yep. So before I talk about this recipe I want to talk a bit about what’s going on. I was reading the other day how historically people tend to dismiss pandemics early on, whether it was the plague in the 14th century, the flu in 1918 or more recently the AIDS epidemic to where we are now with the Coronavirus. There are still people in denial. I admit I had some skepticism early on, but by the last couple weeks of February I started to not touch door knobs in public places and not touch my face. I had jury duty on March 4th and was armed with hand sanitizer and tissues to avoid touching doors or whatever. It was clear at the time that this is not going away by wishful thinking or hopeful optimism. I started some reasonable shopping last week and went to Costco last Tuesday for our usual stuff, it was remarkably calm there and not too busy, they had already implemented cleaning procedures, as soon as you entered they sprayed down the handle of the shopping cart, and throughout the store I saw employees cleaning the handles of refrigerator doors. It gave me hope and confidence that we can get through this with a smart strategy. And we can! But we have to take this seriously to do so. If you want to support your local restaurants, get orders to go and tip accordingly, or better yet, if they have gift cards you can buy them now to use later. I know a lot of restaurants and bars could have serious financial problems over the next few weeks (or months, gasp!) But we should not be congregating as if nothing is going on. Please do your best to keep distance and also support your local businesses. This is really an issue for the federal government which needs to step up and address this because it will become a major problem and the shops need support now more than ever. Please be mindful of all of this and try not to touch your face when you are in a public area, it is so hard not to touch your face! 

With that said, back to the White Bean and Bacon Soup. I’ve made this a few times now over the past couple months or so. It is super easy to put together, quick too, and uses mostly pantry items or things you have in the fridge already. I’ve made this with charred jalapeño chopped up and another version with Harissa, so you can swap out whatever spice you like. If you have neither of those on hand you can use a bit of paprika and/or chili powder, or, if you don’t want it spicy you can just forget about any of that and it will be just as delicious, because the bacon gives it such a wonderful rich smokey flavor. 

I will most likely be cooking with pantry items in the coming weeks and will share the recipes that work best for when you’re working with what you’ve got.

Here are a couple of links that might be helpful about the Coronavirus, what is going on in your area and why this is happening.

Stay safe friends, and most of all this is tragically more fatal to older people and people with a compromised immune systems, even if you are young it is possible to spread the virus unknowingly to others. 

White Bean and Bacon Soup

• 4 slices thick cut bacon

• 3 cans white beans, drained and rinsed

• 1 carrot, diced

• 2 celery stalks, diced

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 can diced tomatoes

• 1 (heaping) tablespoon Harissa  

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or dried thyme)

• 1 bay leaf

• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large dutch oven cook the bacon strips until crisp. Remove and place on paper-towel-lined plate. When cool cut bacon into half-inch pieces.

Remove some of the bacon fat from the pot, leaving 2-3 tablespoons remaining. Over medium heat add the onion, garlic, carrots and celery to the pot, cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for about a minute. Add the diced tomatoes, chicken stock, harissa, thyme and bay leaf, bring to a simmer and then add the beans. Allow to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, then add the bacon and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

French Onion Soup

Hi folks! This is my first attempt at making French Onion Soup. There were a lot of recipes to choose from, all pretty similar, but the one I adapted here (from Food52) had a generous amount of red wine so I went with that, because red wine + beef broth = amazing flavor. But first I had to buy some individual oven-safe soup bowls. I found these at Crate and Barrel (on sale! yay!) and got the little platters to go with them. I think they’re really cute and will work great for future soup and sandwich situations. So as far as the soup goes, the biggest challenge will be cutting all those onions without burning your eyes, as I mention below in the recipe, I recommend using a food processor to slice them, be advised when you’re done and open the lid you will experience all that cut onion at once! I had to put the lid back on until I was ready to put them in the pan. Alternatively you can put the onions in the refrigerator a day in advance, or even the freezer if you don’t have that much time, this greatly reduces the burn factor. The cheese: I made the individual crocks twice, the first time I didn’t put enough soup in the bowl so I didn’t get the draped cheese effect. The second time I made it, which is what you see here, I added enough soup and really piled on the bread and cheese, but still, I only got a little drape. But seriously I can’t complain it tasted so good!

Another thing worth mentioning is that if you cook the soup and then refrigerate it overnight, it will taste even better the next day. It’s just a fact. Recipe below, enjoy!

French Onion Soup

• 2 1/2 - 3 pounds onions

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed

• 1 generous pinch of salt

• Fresh ground black pepper, a few twists

• 4 sprigs fresh thyme

• 1 bay leaf

• 6 cups beef stock

• 2 cups red wine

• 1 baguette or other crusty bread

• 4-6 slices of swiss cheese, one for each serving

• Grated gruyere cheese, a handful for each serving

Halve and slice the onions. I highly recommend a food processor to slice the onions. Slicing this many onions can be torture, if you don’t have a food processor place the onions in the refrigerator a day before and they won’t burn your eyes (as much if at all).

Melt together the butter and olive oil in a large dutch oven, add the garlic until it’s caramelized. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and stir around just until the onions are all coated in the olive oil/butter. Add in the fresh thyme and the bay leaf and let the onions caramelize, about 20-30 minutes. They will be golden to brown in color.

Once the onions are caramelized and have cooked down, pour in the stock and wine. Simmer uncovered for at least an hour and as much as three hours, add salt and pepper to adjust the flavors.

Meanwhile, slice the bread and toast in a 400° oven until lightly golden brown. You'll want 2 pieces of bread per person - one for the bottom of the bowl, and one for on top.

Grate your cheese. Alternatively, you can drape a deli-cut slice of cheese (swiss or gruyere) over the top of the bowls. I used both, grated cheese on the soup, then a slice of swiss over the toast slice.

Preheat your broiler. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf from the soup. Arrange your oven-safe individual serving bowls on a baking sheet.

To prepare, place a toast slice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle in the soup (close to the top of the bowl) top with some grated cheese, a slice of toast, then a slice of cheese or more grated cheese. Be generous! You want the cheese to seal in the soup and drape over the edge of the bowl. Which mine sort of did and didn’t, I swear I put so much cheese but it still melted down into the soup, so as you’re stacking your cheese and bread make sure to pile it high!

Makes about 4-6 servings.

Adapted from Food52

Roasted Tomato Soup + Parmesan Croutons

Roasted Tomato Soup + Parmesan Croutons. And here comes fall. The weather is in that optimum state between summer and fall. Warm enough for the tomatoes to continue growing but cool enough at night for soup. We have so many tomatoes this year that I’m on roast-tomatoes-repeat-roast-tomatoes-repeat cycle, a few days ago I left a bowl of tomatoes on the counter one day too long, and I was sad to have to toss a few in the compost bin. I’m the kind of person that is just heart broken when good food has to get tossed, so I’m just cooking and refrigerating and freezing whatever I can. It’s too good to waste. This soup worked out great for my waste management worries. It packs in a few pounds of tomatoes into OMG so freakin’ delicious soup. I have confirmation from Jeff that it’s kick-ass. I looked over a couple different recipes so this is sort of a hybrid between Half Baked Harvest and Sprouted Kitchen Cooking Club . Half Baked Harvest roasted the tomatoes in the same dutch oven as you make your soup, so this is basically a one pan cooking deal, which I love, but didn’t add stock. So without boring you with every detail I added a bit from each recipe and made it my own. Not too garlicky and not too creamy, and I gotta say this is just an absolutely delicious tomato soup. The parmesan croutons are also outstanding, it makes up for the lack of grilled cheese sandwich, which you won’t miss once you bite into the cheesy crouton. I will most likely be back with more tomato recipes, and, surprisingly, cucumber. I gave the Kirby cucumbers a little plant  food last week, along with the tomatoes, and wow did it like that! Blossoms all over the place and now about 20 cucumbers starting, lol, so yeah, I got that to work with as well. Also the soup bowl you see here is another from Carthage.co, the Dadasi Soup Bowl, I love the organic shape of these dishes.

Enjoy! 

Roasted Tomato Soup + Parmesan Croutons

• 3-4 lbs Heirloom Tomatoes, quartered

• 1 small onion, quartered

• 1 small red bell pepper, quartered

• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed

• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400°. Add the tomatoes, onion, pepper, garlic and thyme to large dutch oven (or oven-safe pot). Add the olive oil, a little salt and pepper and mix until well combined. Place in oven uncovered and roast for about 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes start to char a bit. 

Remove from oven and ladle the tomato mixture into a blender, blend until pureed.

Return the tomatoes to the dutch oven then whisk in the chicken stock, tomato paste and milk. Bring the soup to a simmer and add salt and pepper to taste, continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with croutons (recipe below) and some fresh herbs, sprinkle a little parmesan cheese if you like.

Parmesan Croutons

• 2-3 cups bread cubes, baguette or similar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/8 cup parmesan cheese

• A couple sprigs of fresh thyme or oregano

Heat oven to 350°. Cut bread into rough 1” cubes and place in large bowl. Stir in the olive oil, parmesan cheese, fresh chopped herbs, and a pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper.

Spread a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown, tossing midway. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Store in refrigerator if you have leftover.