Comments on: four cool things plus white bean stew

By: JDV

JDV — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:01:55 +0000

Add some fresh pasta and you have yourself a delicious pasta fagioli!

By: Carolyna

Carolyna — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:10:25 +0000

sorry: we don’t use ham in it either.

By: Carolyna

Carolyna — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:08:13 +0000

Hey Deb, here in Greece our white bean stew (fasolada) is traditionally made with thinly chopped carrots, and its signature taste is given by chopped celery stalk and a few celery greens (here we get a different kind of celery which kind of looks like really big parsley – its stalks are way thinner and the leaves have a really potent flavour). You use normal celery stalks but the leaves of the mutant parsley/celery hybrid ;)

Keep well, keep cooking up a storm. You make me smile.

kiss kiss
C

By: DJ

DJ — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:45:38 +0000

I think wild garlic ( ramsons) in Germany it is called Bärlauch would be a lovely addition instead of the other greens and gives a garlic flavour without the fireeating breath.Pepperoncino flakes would give it the fire…..your recipe sounds lovely and I am looking froward to trying the butter scotch icecream….

By: Sonya

Sonya — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:52:04 +0000

This soup is ridiculously good. I don’t know if it was the dainty portions you pictured being eaten that used reverse psychology on me, but um.. I ate almost the entire pot of soup. In one day. By myself. I was planning on having this be a two, three day thing? I burnt myself eating it, I disregarded any rational notions about how much soup a person could eat, and now I have eaten it once it’s gone cold, hours later. It’s happened before with your recipes, Deb – the no-knead bread? All gone. Even if I pick healthy recipes I eat so much of what I made it doesn’t even matter. I may not comment, ever, but your blog has helped me feed myself for two years now.

It was my first time using fire roasted tomatoes, and chorizo sausage. I used kale also, and the parmesan bread slices were perfection. No home can be unhappy with such soups in it. I wish they would advertise this type of food in public instead of McDonalds or Slurpees… sigh… here’s to a brighter future.

By: Monica

Monica — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:10:42 +0000

Just found your blog and I love it.
I did just what Brooklynite did, and I added four chopped anchovies to the onion garlic mixture. They add unbelievable flavor, and no one would guess they were in the end result.
I also use a pressure cooker, and bean cooking is a dream. Thirty minutes from start to finish. I add water, whole onion, garlic, bay leaves and the end of prosciutto to the raw beans. After the beans cook, I separate them from the broth to stop the cooking process. If I’m making a soup, I keep them everything together,removing the prosciutto and bay, and add previously sauteed vegetables to the pot.

By: Kris

Kris — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 16:12:07 +0000

I just made this thanks to it popping up on the ‘one year ago’ feature. As you suggested, I gave it a little help in the spice department and it turned out great. I added half a white onion I had lying around and doubled the garlic, then reduced a bit of white wine in the onion/garlic mix before adding the tomatoes. I also added some Spanish paprika, ground cayenne and thyme. Very, very yummy and hearty.

And I second Brenda’s bean liquor comment! It thickens the soup/stew up nicely, too.

By: Brenda

Brenda — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 02:10:47 +0000

One thing I’ve discovered with good beans–use the bean liquor (the liquid left after your beans are cooked) as the liquid in your soup,especially if you cooked them with a mirepoix; otherwise you’re throwing a lot of great flavor down the drain. Bet some fresh lemon juice added near the end of cooking would perk it up , or maybe boiled cider.

By: cs

cs — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 21:36:39 +0000

I used this recipe as a base line and incorporated many suggestions. Starting with Rancho Gordo beans how can one go wrong? I did use pancetta rather than ham, added shallots, incorporated fire roasted tomatoes, a glug of white wine, smoked paprika, and lots of red pepper flakes. I used spinach but may try romaine, escarole or arugula next time. Very yummy!

By: brooklynite

brooklynite — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:30:25 +0000

Just made this and it was awesome with: 2 glugs of white wine after adding tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and lots of red pepper flakes. It had a sweet spicy roundness that was awesome with some peasant bread toasted with some paremsean reggiano. Perfect way to use the leftover ham.