September bought us, amongst many other things, a lot of beans. Not our first beans – we’ve been picking them since June – but more beans…and now we are harvesting beans in pods, which is super exciting.
I managed to get my hands on some new varieties this year, which all enjoyed our warm summer and produced an abundance of beans. I felt like I was in a Barcelona allotment when I walked past the rows of multi-coloured pods hanging on the plants. Some of the bean varieties had odd names like ‘Lazy Housewife’ – not too sure how I feel about that name but I have to say they cropped very well.
We also grew Gigantes which, as the name suggests, are huge…the biggest beans we have ever grown. They are plump and white, like butter beans on hormones. The yield wasn’t great but the bragging rights were right up there. The borlotti beans are almost ready to pick, these beans, which have pink pods, will be speckled pink and cream when they are harvested. We also have Orca/yin yang beans coming on. These are black and white with corresponding dots, which are likened to orca whales and yin yang signs.
The Lazy Housewives produced cannellini beans and we have discovered that we can bottle them. We cooked the beans inside jars with a little salt and they are now in perfect condition to store. Previously we have frozen the bean crops but this is a much better option not only in flavour but also the fact that we aren’t relying on electricity to preserve them. Definitely the way forward!
The drop in temperature and the stash of beans means it’s a good time to get the soup pot out. I’m a big fan of vegetable soups laced with beans or lentils…they are what I call ‘live to be one hundred soups’ as in all the ‘blue zones’ – in places where people live to great ages they incorporate this kind of food into their diet.
There are hundreds of recipes for soups using all manner of ingredients to twist and turn the result but there’s always one important underlying factor. The base. The base of your soup is what will give depth of flavour so it’s always worth paying some attention to the start of the recipe. Most soups begin with an onion, then perhaps carrot, celery and possibly some garlic. Take time to cook these, melt them down gently in a little olive oil or whatever you’re using, season with a little salt. The vegetables will soften and sweeten and give a flavourful foundation to whatever you are going to add next.
This recipe is an old favourite using the aforementioned beans, kale and tomatoes, all of which we are still harvesting. Mind you, by the time that you read this we will have probably eaten most of the tomatoes but canned tomatoes do a great job. Canned tomatoes are picked in peak condition and processed immediately, so often tastier to cook with than the well-travelled fresh tomatoes that we find in the supermarkets.
If you have any Parmesan rinds hanging about in your fridge add one to the soup, as this will also boost the base flavour, just remember to take it out before serving.
Cannellini Bean and Kale Soup
Ingredients:
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 stems celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 75mls olive oil
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes or a generous half can
• 1 can or jar of cannellini beans, drained
• 1 bay leaf
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• Pinch of chilli flakes – optional
• 500mls-700mls vegetable stock
• 5-6 stems of kale
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan rind – optional
Peel and chop the onion. Heat a soup pot, add enough olive oil to just cover the bottom and the onion. Cook on high heat until it’s sizzling, then return the heat to medium/low. The onions should not brown, you only want them to melt down. Chop the celery and peel and chop the carrots – I like to cut these quite small so there’s more surface area to cook. Add these vegetables as you are chopping them. Stir everything together, add a little salt then continue cooking gently for 5-10 minutes. If you are using a Parmesan rind, you can add it now. Peel and chop the garlic, add to the pot then cook for a couple of minutes. Add the bay leaf.
Strip the kale from the stem, chop into ribbons, then again into smaller pieces, then stir into the veg. Now add the chopped tomatoes – if you are using fresh tomatoes allow them to cook down before adding the stock. No need to do this if you are using a can of tomatoes. Add the stock – start with 500mls then add more later if you think it’s too thick, smoked paprika, chilli flakes if you are using them and the beans. Bring everything to the boil then simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.
Season with salt and cracked black pepper. Don’t forget to fish out the Parmesan rind if you used one and it’s ready to serve. A little spritz of lemon juice at the end gives it a perky lift.
Enjoy October…It’s time to put our socks on!
Karen
Lettercollum Kitchen Project,
Timoleague
info@lettercollum.ie
www.lettercollum.ie
023 8846251
