White Bean and Bacon Soup

Image by Shana Lee via Flickr

What to do?

I may be shifting the focus of this blog away from myself and more on to my interests for the next little while.  I am still up in the air on that, but……it’s a long story and basically I am not going to get into the who’s and what’s on here.   There are way too many people that I know IRL that are not privy to any aspect of my life anymore and I would like to keep it that way.

So, I leave you in the grace of the Almighty with a wonderful soup recipe…..that I am making right now……and I can only begin to tell you how good my kitchen smells…..

It is from the City Tavern in Philadelphia. If you are ever in Old City Philadelphia, you must visit.   I did make a couple noteable changes to the recipe….I doubled the amount of slab bacon and added some liquid smoke.

White Bean and Bacon Soup

Serves 8-10

~Ingredients~

1 pound dried navy beans

2 ½ quarts of chicken stock

4 tbs unsalted butter

2 medium yellow yellow onions

3 garlic cloves, chopped

8 large plum tomatoes (1 pound) seeded and chopped

½ pound slab bacon, cut into ¼ inch cubes

1 tsp dried marjoram

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 bunches fresh parsley, finely chopped, (about 12 tbs)

~~~~OVERNIGHT PREPARATION RECOMMENDED~~~~~~

To pre-soak the beans, place them in a colander and rinse thoroughly with water to clean. Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Let stand at room temperature for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Drain and thoroughly rinse the beans. Place them in a large stock pot, add the stock and bring to a boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 1 hour, or until beans are soft.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and garlic and sautee for 5 minutes, until light brown. Add the tomatoes, bacon, and marjoram, and saute for 3 to 5 minutes more until the tomatoes begin to dissolve.

Add the tomato mixture to the beans in the stock pot. Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Just before serving, stir in the parsley.

(From The City Tavern Cookbook; Recipes from the Birthplace of American Cuisine by Walter Staib)