Oh, it is nice to know foody people. Witness:
Sautée some onions, carrots and leeks in butter. Add a hambone* and the already soaked white beans (3 cups dried) to that, and 7 cups of chicken stock. Cook forever. Take out the bone, and purée. Add 1 cup cream. Consistency of soup should be that of heavy cream. Put some freshly minced parsley in at the end.
* or smoked pork hoc, or sautée up some pancetta together with the initial veggies.
Excellent, excellent. The only thing I added was a bunch of pepper; and could’ve probably used a bit more salt, but watch out: the ham might provide quite enough salt on its own. What a marvelous, simple cold-weather soup. Crusty bread with it, mmm.
How many carrots/leaks/onions? Hell if I know. Eyeballed it, putting in one huge chopped carrot, half a thick stalk of leek and half an onion, the latter without cutting it. I wasn’t sure about the amount of the onion family in the soup, and rather dislike soups that are too onion-y. So ended up taking the regular onion out at the end. In retrospect, could’ve probably put in a bit more leek; I think I like the smoky-mild taste of it, sautéed. The large half-Spanish-onion was just right. The cream I put in was light, and heavy might have just overdone it, for once. The final dish is gorgeous and velvety, with its Great Northern bean and real chicken broth base.
(Yeah, I made real chicken broth, as Whole Foods had chicken bones and I’m huddling at home as much as I can in this cold. Hopefully, this time I’ll actually freeze some of the broth to use later. Simple! Chicken, potato, onion, carrot, parsnip, Vegeta, parsley. Simmer. Don’t forget to take off the foam after the meat simmers a while, or it won’t be clear.)
