One of my favorite things to do on a bitterly cold winter day here in LarryLand is to make soup in a crockpot.  Yes, when the weather gets to freezer like temperatures (i.e. low 60’s), we pull on hoodies over our t-shirts, wear shoes instead of flip-flops and hide indoors watching Norm Abrams make sawdust on YouTube.  Take that East-Coasters!

Soup doesn’t have to be complicated. Yet people make it tough. I’m very partial to bean soups as they “fill your front tooth” as my grandfather would say.

So, today’s menu was:

1) Bean and Kale Soup

2) Lemon Olive Bread (See It’s Thyme for Lemon Olive Bread)

3) A Spanish white wine from the Terra Alta region. It was cheap, light, and nice. And cheap (did I say this already?)

Although this dish is not Spanish inspired, it does remind me of my first real meal in Mondragón Spain.  It was July of 1987. My lifelong friend Dave had moved there to study the Basque cooperatives, or so I remember. Regardless, that was a good excuse for me to pack up and tour Europe. Little did I know that I’d meet my wife about 2 weeks later. Dave’s still there.

In 1987, Mondragón was not quite what you would call an international tourist destination. The tall blond 24 year old sorta stood out. So, Dave pranked me.

We went to this restaurant, and Dave explained that we order “2 plates”, per the menu.  My first was an order of the bean soup.  They put a large bowl in front of me, and the cook came out of the kitchen balancing a large pot on her hip.

Then she starts ladling. And ladling. And ladling. And Dave just sat there with a cheshire cat grin on his face. And ladling. She’s looking at Me. I’m looking at Her. Dave’s Smiling. And ladling and… Finally,  Dave explains to me that she’s waiting for me to tell her when to stop.

After a sigh of relief from both the cook and me, I ate a great bowl of beans.

So, for the recipe, just remember this:  Like the cook in Mondragón, I NEVER measure ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. white beans
• 1-2 ribs celery, halved
• 1 carrot – halved
• 2/4 of an onion; Do your fractions folks – cut ½ of an onion into ½.
• 2 cup chicken stock.
• 1 leek, chopped
• ½ onion, chopped fine (yes, the other 2/4!)
• 1-2 carrots, diced
• 1-2 ribs celery diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic minced roughly
• 1 head Kale (use what you can find; I used Tuscan kale because they had it in the market)
• Thyme, Oregano to taste (about 2 tsp. each?). Whatever you like.
• Red pepper flakes (about ¼ tsp?)
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil
• Butter (optional).
• 1 lemon, juiced.

Recipe:

Step 1.  Clean and soak the beans overnight.

Yes, you can use canned beans if you’d like. Probably 2-3 cans would be needed. I don’t like the bean stock in the cans and always rinse first, but you do what you like.

I’ve been lucky that my local market (Growers Ranch) has been carrying “heirloom” beans and they’re simply wonderful.

Step 2.  Next morning, drain the beans and put them in the crock pot. Cover with water, add chicken stock, some salt and pepper, and then the halved carrots, celery, and onions.

Set it on “High” for about 4 hours.

Yes, you can do this on the stove, but I find the crock pot is nice because I can set it up and go out for the day.

Step 3.  Sauté the leek, carrots, celery, garlic, chopped onion, herbs and red pepper with a bit of salt and pepper until soft. I like using about 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. oil. You can do this in advance, or wait until later.

Step 4.  Once the beans are soft, but not done completely, pull out the carrots, celery, and onion. Then add in the sauteed carrots, celery, and onion.  Yes, seems redundant, but what the heck, it works.

Reduce temp to low and go away for another 1-2 hours

Step 5. Once the beans are fully cooked, and the veggies are soft enough, add in the kale. Let this cook down for about 30 minutes.

Add lemon juice at the end if you like it. I find the acid helps lighten it up.  Serve, with some grated parmesan or romano as you see fit.