I like soup with beans but not bean soup. 9 Bean Soup. Navy Bean Soup. Nope. Corn Chowder with black beans. YES! Minestrone with Beans… YES! In particular I was craving some Minestrone.
So I cooked up the rest of the yellow eyed beans. I had made these straight into my beans and rice dish, so I hoping that their straight bean liquor would be good enough to the base of my soup. And it was. SO delicious.
I didn’t have any small pasta that would be typical of minestrone, But I’m in empty fridge mode and I did have a package of Tortellini I got from Surfas. I love tortellini soup… so I decided to make it fortified with beans instead of sausage like I usually do!
No sausage. But I did use some of the Pancetta I had from Epicurous gourmet as the base. Added onions, carrots and celery. Then a GOOD dollop of tomato paste. Once things were getting soft… I poured in the bean liquor and a bit of water to loosen it up. Thyme, Pepper, got it to a good simmer to really soften the pancetta. Once things were really nicely co-mingled… I started spooning in the beans so that I good ratio of beans and broth. I didn’t use all of them… which is fine. I could have the little left over later with some tostada and cheese as a snack tomorrow…
I boiled up the tortellini in another pot and then added them in after the beans got nicely heated through. Made sure they were coated nicely in the soup and that the soup wasn’t too thick.
All in all… it was a lovely hearty soup! I served with a sprinkle of parm and for added bonus, the Trader Joes Brazillian Cheese Bread (I like these better than he Brazil Bite ones). Home pressed Pomegrante Juice with Green Tea to help counter the richness of the soup.
When I restock my bean pantry… I’ll for sure buy these yellow beans again!
My 10 year old is obsessed with the pencil we got him for his birthday at M. Lovewell. The brand was called Blackwing. He put these pencils on his Xmas wishlist. He will not use any other pencil. I do have to admit the weight and feel of the pencil are something I have never experienced before since I grew up with standard #2 pencils.
DANG!!! I think I adore your 10 year old. So glad you like the shop. You can get a box of Blackwing Pencils also at Blick… I am a pen person more than Pencil… but there is something about the feel of writing with a lovely scratch. That is why I adore my ReMarkable… But I would hardly suggest a super fancy note pad for a kid… instead… MaiDo the Japanese stationary store has what is called Mai-Do in a box. It’s a monthly opt-in box of stationary GOODNESS. This is the last one I got…
You can get it mailed to your home or pick it up at various Kinokuniya locations around town… Torrance, Culver City, Little Tokyo. It makes for a fun and productive trek (since they are in or near Japanese grocery stores…
This looks like a great gift for my kid. Thanks. We went to Blick the other day and got some pads, markers, pastels and some colored pencils. I don’t mind spending money on this stuff if it keeps the kids off their devices.
Not to totally derail the thread but I finally got my shipment of new (to me) beans. Very excited to cook all these lovely legumes as the weather starts to cool off.
I cooked the King City Pinks last week. I really liked them. You’ve got some of the same “new to me” beans that I have. I love the RG wild rice. I got a new package and used it in some creamy turkey and wild rice soup last week.
Here are the end of my King City Pinks. I had them for breakfast yesterday with a Denver scramble (onions, bells, ham, serrano) and cheese.
It’s great that you got the wild rice… I always have some of theirs on hand for soups and side dishes. Recently a friend told me about this recipe that I would have COMPLETELY skipped over. She said it was one her favorites…
Again, being in Pantry cleaning mode, I knew I wanted to make something with the wild rice. Although a lot of our markets are out of fresh corn and the recipe calls for frozen corn… the corn on the ready to go corn on the cobs at Trader Joes are surprisingly decent for dishes like these. Also what really drew me to this recipe was a chance to use up a frozen Hickory Farms Summer sausage from a holiday gift basket of last year. Thank gawd. Finally, this recipe as is makes… A LOT OF SOUP. We quasi halved it.
Yes, it is that much better! I know… I used to work from the place that is the biggest name in the stuff. The flavor and aroma is wonderful. The inside cooks well and the skins are are so soft and tender, but combined there is still some good texture, which is why it’s so great with soup.
Other changes I made to the soup… instead of all those carrots, I added celery and green bell pepper just for a more homey taste. The recipe calls you to process a portion of the corn with broth… but put it in a blender instead and let it WHIRL. This I think was the real benefit to using fresh corn… We omitted the 1/2 and 1/2 and it was plenty creamy. Especially since in it’s place we added a whee bit more REALLY good butter…
The soup was great! I can see why it was her favorite… the corn and wild rice combo is so classic. It also hearty without being overly heavy or starchy. My next recipe for what remains of the rice is going into another dish, but this will be in rotation…
It’s no wonder that my Rancho Gordo game has all been about soups…
I love pasta fagioli soup and my in laws sent us a ham for the holidays… so I made a version with Radiatori… although it’s a little bigger than most traditional pastas for soup, I love how the little frills hold the soup. We used a small portion of King City Pink Beans and mixed their wonderful liquor with whirrled with some Bianco Tomatoes. The perfect mix of deep bean flavor and sharp tomato.
Another recipe recommended by a friend using more of those King City Beans!
The recipe was pretty good… the only changes I made was to not puree the entire soup, I kept some whole for texture and omit the cream. The beans were creamy enough as it…
Finally… used the last of those huge Ayocote Morado beans to make shredded chicken Chili. I realize there is a reason why I tend to make chili during peak avocado season… I just love this combo of cool avocado with spicy rich chili…
You could try these from Ralphs on Pico & San Vicente. I haven’t had them but I like their Blackeyed Peas… more than RG. Look for the Bayou Magic kiosk.
What do you do when you take the day off and it’s cold & rainy outside? Read the last half of the FTC Bean thread again. Great stuff. This thread could really be turned into a bean book.
Great stuff @Dommy… but I think I said that already. I was going to make a simple pot of Marcella Beans tonight & pan-sear a piece of Steelhead (rainbow) Trout, but I think I’ll make that Tuscan White Bean Soup w/Bacon.
Anyhoo… I’m a little behind in posting, but I made the Bayo Chocolates @DiningDiva.
Bayo Chocolates (from the XOXOC-Project), Salt Pork, Carrot, Celery, Spring Garlic, RG’s Mexican Oregano, Puréed Rehydrated Ancho Chili, Chili Powder Blend, TJ’s Chicken Broth Concentrate, Olive Oil, Garnished w/Scallions, Cilantro & Sour Cream (not shown)
I should have taken a photo of the actual dried beans as they do look just like milk chocolate. They have a thick skin which made them take quite some time to cook, especially with a traditional stove top method. They are much like Red Beans and great with rice… and look at that fantastic gravy-like bean broth!
Thanks the heads up! I’ve seen these… but I don’t think I ever noticed they had spice mix in them!! I will have to give these or the BEPs a shot!
Those beans look amazing too! I just happened to pick up a bag of Alubia Blancos and Cranberry at Gusto in Long Beach two weeks ago that I really take advantage us while it’s blustery out there!
In the November shipment we got Desi Chana, or black garbanzos. They got shoved to the back of the pantry shelf and I forgot about them…until the new shipment arrived and I had to make room for the new stuff.
So out came the desi and I decided to make this chickpea stew recipe from the NYT. only sub in the black garbanzos for regular ones. It tunred out surprisingly well, tho’ not particularly photogenic
I used more onions than the recipe called for, added a minced up jalapeno, used only 1 can of full fat coconut milk rather than the 2 in the recipe, but the full amount of stock. Cooked it down to a stew-like consistency over a fairly high flame while I cooked a pot of rice.
The recipe probably is better with regular garbanzos, but it was pretty damn good with the black garbanzos and that was all I had on hand.
The country ribs I get are mostly boneless. They are just pork shoulder cut into strips So I find them easier to handle. The guys at Standings will whip some up for you if you give them a call.
Look for the Bayou Magic kiosk.
