Herbes (Potage)

I am tired of all this snow. I miss my herbs. Fortunately, I've tons dried to use. In remembrance of how lovely and healthy herbs are, here's a few easy to make soup recipes (below) that are nutritious and delicious. They may look hard due to all the writing of the recipe; but they are actually super fast and super simple to make. I don't write things down so I don't have recipes with "exact measures"; you will need to trust your own hand for it and it will come out wonderful so don't worry over being precise. The below are how I make these soups of which both were handed down through my family. On a cold snowy day, these work wonders! One is Fassoulada, an easy vegetarian Mediterranean soup; the other is Caldo Verde, the way made by my Vovo. Since I like to cook with herbs as did she, these are the versions we make in our family. The traditional versions from Greece and Portugal did not typically include the extra herbes. These are great recipes to also use as a base to make your own versions as well. Enjoy!

Fassoulada - (Greek Bean Soup) - Vegetarian

You will need: 1 pound white NAVY (haricot) beans, 1 large onion chopped (or more if you prefer lots of onion), Celery tops with leaves or about 2-3 celery stalks, 2-3 carrots peeled and sliced or cut to your preference, 16-30oz. of tomato puree (canned) or you can use fresh tomato as well if you want to peel, cut and sauté down your own tomato, a few parsley sprigs, 2 bay leaves and about 2-3 quarts water (judge this on your own). Some versions will use a ham bone to flavor the broth; the recipe I have here is vegetarian but if you want to include meat flavor, then you would need to boil down the ham bone prior to use in place of plain water. These above are the traditional version of ingredients; but I personally ALSO add to it: White wine, oregano, thyme, rosemary, fresh garlic, fresh butter, 2 teaspoons white wine VINEGAR. You can choose to add these in or not optionally; if not just remove from the below recipe.

Recipe:
There are different ways to deal with dried navy beans which tend to be tough to begin with. The easiest way to do it if you have time is to simply cover them with water and let sit overnight to soften. The other way to do it is to cover with water in the morning and let sit for about 4 hours. In either case, once you have your beans soaked, drain them, put in a saucepan, cover with fresh water and boil for about 30 minutes. While these are cooking, you can prepare the remaining ingredients. ------ Preparation: In a large soup pot add olive oil (you can substitute but olive is best if you have it), course chopped garlic, the onions, celery, carrots, some salt, pepper, and the oregano, thyme, rosemary, tomato. Sauté for a few minutes, and when they are simmering hot, pour some white wine right into the pan. Add about 3 tablespoons butter. Reduce heat very low. The beans are now ready. Skim the brine from the top of the beans with a flat spoon (there will be a skin formed which I call "brine" - you will know it when you see it and you want to remove this). Drain the beans out and reserve about a cup or so of the broth as some of the broth made by the beans is used to add flavor. Add the beans with the reserved broth to the soup pot of simmering vegetables; add more water to your taste to make soup - depending on how thick or thin you like your soup; approximately 2 quarts but I never measure, I go by eye on these things. :) Now add the bay leaves and chopped parsley, vinegar. Let simmer 20 minutes and then taste it and add salt, pepper, more herbs etc. to your liking. This is a great soup to eat with fresh bread and feta or a nice salad of feta, greens and lemon.

Caldo Verde - (Portuguese Kale Soup) - With Meat

You will need: Chourico sliced or diced to your preference. Some prefer to also remove the outer casings - I do not but again, it's personal preference. You will need approximately 1 pound of chourico (or less if you wish, but adjust the rest of the items accordingly if you use less). My Vovo always used a homemade variety; the best to use if you like spice is the hot chourico (or a combination of hot and sweet if you don't like things too spicy);  You will need about 6 white potatoes, you don't need to peel them if they have thin skins but you do need to scrub them well, you can also use regular baking potatoes but these have heavy skins and best if peeled first; 2 sweet onions, Spanish onions, or any onion but a good amount, at least one very large or 2 medium - COARSE cut not fine chopped (I prefer the larger wedges of onion personally when making this soup); 1 large or 2 smaller bunches of FRESH kale. Kale is cheap and super nutritious. Wash well, and cut fine, like chiffonade. The easiest way to do it is to stack the leaves, roll them in bunches into cigar shapes, and cut in thin strips all the way down. Easy, easy to do! :); olive oil, and about 2-3 quarts water. These are the traditional ingredients; to this I like to also include: RED wine, lots of extra garlic, fresh rosemary, coarse black pepper. (Note: I also will include carrots for extra nutrients sometimes when I make this, but carrot is definitely not the traditional way. It is traditionally a "green" soup hence the name "Caldo Verde" :).

Recipe:
First start cooking the potatoes separately. I like to precook the potatoes separately because I don't care for the "dross" that is released into the soup when just adding them in. You want them JUST tender; they don't have to be cooked all the way through. ----- Preparation: While the potatoes are cooking; get the remaining ingredients cut and ready to use. Take the  coarse chopped onion, lots of fresh garlic coarse chopped, and the cut chourico, put in a soup pot with a good hand of olive oil and sauté. Add coarse pepper, fresh (or dried if you have it) rosemary. Crush the rosemary in your hand before adding to help release the flavor. Allow to simmer with the cover on to get hot. When hot, add a good helping of red wine; about a third cup I would say. Simmer about 8 more minutes. Add water approximately 2 quarts. Check the potatoes, if just getting tender, drain and add these to the soup. Now add the thin sliced kale. Cover and let simmer. Add salt to taste if needed. To make a stronger brew, you can UNCOVER the pot and allow to simmer to help reduce down. Again, when adding water to this use your own judgment; you will know by the amount of ingredients in your pot how much water to add to make a soup. You can adjust and this cannot be "overcooked" really. Enjoy! (Note: You could translate this into a vegetarian version by omitting the chourico, and adding white beans. In this case, to add more flavor you would up the amount of herbs. The navy beans above could work as well as the Italian Cannellini beans which can be used from the can or fresh.

Comments

[Kalliope]

These are awesome, S. I am definitely going to be coming back here to grab that vegetarian bean soup recipe. The kale soup recipe is very similar to how I prepare mine (without the meat). My mother used to always make Portuguese soup, and I adore it...but I have altered the recipe to include kidney beans in lieu of meat.

I remember you being a phenomenal cook, not to mention you are a magician with herbs...so I personally hope this is the beginning of a trend of you posting recipes from time to time! :)

[sibyllae]

LOL! Sometimes the inspiration is there. I like to share recipes. Thanks for the kudos. The bean one is awesome and you can do alot with it - make a whole new soup with it even. And kale soup is just yummy. Wish my kids thought so (they don't) - so i don't make it as often as I would like to. Hugs!

[Ron]

Yummy, yummy, yummy...my mouth is watering just reading this!!!

I'll pay you a thousand dollors to make these recipes and then ship them to me!

[sibyllae]

Ron you are so much fun! If I could do that I honestly would but I somehow don't think the flavor would hold up much with our "not so speedy" postal shipping though lol! And I am still laughing at your comment "yum yum"... Too cool. You really SHOULD be on TV or in the theatre! So much PRESENCE in less than 10 words good goddess ... HUGS and YUM-O-RAMA! :)

[gypsy-heart]

I always love coming here Sibyl. These recipes sound delicious.
I just said last night I wanted to plant some more rosemary and other herbs. I used to have a huge rosemary bush and it was so wonderful..especially after a summer rain when the hot sun returned..the steamy fragrance was magical.
I hope you will keep us posted about your business you mentioned a while back. I for one will be ordering from you!