What are you doing today, first weekend of a new year and all.
Me, I am doing what I do every weekend. Clean and make soup! And a few stupid annoying things that I won’t get into…( I hate having to deal with phone shit!)
Anyway lets talk about soup, the best food in the world. You might not think that yourself, and that is just fine, but me, I could, and do, eat soup just about every day (seriously, and I have years of blogging to prove it). It is just so good, well, most soups. Some soups are not good and that is when I do not eat them and nor should you.
This soup just so happens to be a good New Years omen.. Someone just told me beans and greens are good luck to eat at the beginning of a new year so I guess we are in luck. But tell me this, shouldn't I be freaking winning lotteries and shit with the amount of beans and greens I eat all year long? I mean seriously. But back to this soup. A basic 15 bean (or however many types of beans) soup situation. Cooked with a few but delicious veggies, some good spices, a little tomato, and served up whenever it is done and whenever you feel like eating it. A great soup to pop onto the stove, blast the tunes, get into a cleaning grove and basically ignore, and come back to it whenever you are feeling hungry. I mean, what better then to finish off a crazy deep clean and organize of all the closets plus wiping down every single surface in the house (including all the baseboard and window trim) and scrubbing toilets, then with a big ass bowl of warm beans and greens soup. This. This is a good day to me. And don’t say that you wouldn't love it too…but in case you wouldn’t don’t at me and you do you.
Now to the lucky beans and greens soup and maybe some New Years cleaning (or however you want to send your time!)
The stuff. A 15 bean mixture that has been soaking in water overnight, tomato puree, a carrot and and onion, parsnip and celeriac, a couple cloves of garlic, a bunch of collard greens, spices (cumin, paprika, chili powder, red pepper, oregano, and ginger), apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper.
Basically the only work needed done, to dice it all up. Small dice the onion, carrot, parsnip and celeriac, mince the garlic, and then thinly shill up the collard greens.
Toss it all into a big pot with the spices and a cup or so of water and place on medium heat to start to cook.
Once veggies have become fragrant and are slightly tender, dump in the soaked beans!
Add water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and pop a lid on it. Let cook for about an hour.
And once the beans become tender, dump in the vinegar and tomato puree. Mix it all up, add another cup or so water, and keep in cooking
Soup, with all the beans, DONE. And so so good.
And basically you jest serve it up whenever you want and eat it. Bread makes a great accompaniment.
Happy New Year!
-C
15 Bean and Greens Soup
2 cups dried bean mixture (can use any number of bean mixture that you want) that has been soaking for a least a few hours but overnight is good
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon each paprika, chili powder, ginger, oregano
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
a medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
2 1/2-3 cups total of small diced carrot, celeriac, and or parsnip
a small bunch of collard greens (or kale)
1 1/2 cups tomato puree
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
7-9 cups water
Start by small dicing up the onion, mincing that garlic, and small dicing up the carrot, celeriac, and parsnip. Dump it all into a large heavy bottom pot along with about a cup of water and all the spiced. Cut the collard greens into thin strips and toss those in too. Put on stove on medium heat and cook for 7-10 minutes or until it comes fragrant and the veggies seems to be tender. Dump in presoaked beans and 6-7 cups water (make sure beans are fully submerged) and bring whole pot to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a medium heat and place cover on pot. Cook for an hour or so and then add in the tomato puree and vinegar. Add in another cup or two of water and cook for another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes (longer if you want. You can cook and set on simmer and leave on stove for a few hours. Just add more water when needed and stir occasionally) or until all the beans are tender and completely cooked. Season with salt and pepper and then serve.
Left overs should be stored in fridge for a week or so or can be frozen for a few months.
