Warming Smoky Bean Soup

Hi there,

This is the first recipe that comes to my mind whenever temperatures outside drop below zero.

People around here eat lots of soup in general, a decent weekend meal shall definitely start with a soup. I am sharing today a traditional, spicy and smoky bean soup recipe. It is absolutely flavorful, one of our family favorites, packed with vegetables (beans primarily), cooked with smoked pork knuckle, smoked sausage and pinched homemade pasta. Actually, it is filling enough for a complete meal.

Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

(Please note that quantities given are not set in stone, consider them guidelines. Normally, when preparing this soup I do not weigh ingredients at all.)

• 500 g dry white beans

For cooking pork knuckle:

• 1 smoked pork knuckle* (about 1300 g with skin and bone)
• 1 large onion
• 6-8 cloves of garlic
• 3-4 bay leaves
• a small piece (2 cm) of ginger

*Here, smoked pork knuckles are sold everywhere. May be substituted with other smoked pork meat.

For the soup:

• 100 g lardon
• 1 large onion
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 2 celery sticks
• 4 tablespoons tomato puree
• 400 g carrots
• 250 g celeriac
• 300 g parsley root
• 200 g smoked paprika sausage
• salt and pepper to taste
• small piece (2 cm) of fresh ginger
• parsley leaves (a small fresh bunch or dried)
• sour cream

For thickening the soup**:

• 1 tablespoon lard (saved from cooking the lardon)
• 1 clove garlic
• ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon paprika powder
• cold water

** This is a classic local way of thickening soups and stews, this is the method my grandma and my mother used, so I am just doing the same without overthinking. If you want a shortcut, this soup is so thick that you might as well omit thickening it, if you decide so, add paprika right after the tomato puree.

For the pinched pasta:

• 1 egg
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt

 Utensils:

• cutting board
• vegetable peeler
• colander
• a large pot
• bowls and pots
• saucepan
• pressure cooker***

*** Using pressure cooker speeds up cooking the pork knuckle a lot. Cooking it the normal way, in a standard pot is also managable, but takes a way more time. Ages, sometimes.

There are two tasks to accomplish the evening before cooking.

1. Wash beans, dump them into a large pot and add triple the amount of cold water.
2. Place the pork knuckle into the pressure cooker (or the pot you’re planning to use for cooking) and cover with cold water. (This is to extract excess salt.)

Let them soak at room temperature overnight.

Next morning, you’ll see that the beans will have absorbed a lot of water.

As far as I am concerned, you just never know how long it would take to cook beans, therefore I suggest to cook them separately rather than cooking them together with the rest of the veggies and end up overcooking the latter.

Rinse beans in a colander, place them in a large pot with ample water and cook on medium heat until they are fully cooked. 

Peel garlic cloves, ginger and onion (just the outside layer but also remove the root).

Pour the water in which the knuckle was soaking overnight and replace with fresh cold water. Add ginger, garlic, onion (in whole) and bay leaves into the pot, close the lid and cook for 75 minutes under pressure. (Or as long as the meat is nice and tender.) The meat shall fall off the bone. 

While the meat is cooking, use the time to prep everything to make the soup.

1.     Lardon: cut into small cubes.

2.     Celery stalks: wash, peel and chop.

3.     Onion and garlic: peel and chop.

4.     Celeriac, parsley root and carrot: wash, peel and cut into bite-sized cubes (discs where appropriate). 

In order to make the pinched pasta that goes into the soup, combine the flour, salt end the egg by hand or in the food processor. I find it easier to start the process in a bowl and finish it on a chopping board. Then pinch small pieces off the dough and spread them on a floured surface until use. 

When the knuckle is tender, discard the onion and other seasonings. Remove the knuckle from the pot onto a plate and keep the cooking liquid (it will be used as ‘broth’ for the soup). Depending on how juicy (fatty) you like the knuckle, separate it into two parts. One goes into the soup – that should be cut into bite-sized bits, the other you either discard, or for example you use it to make your dog happy.

Slice the sausage.

Finally, we have come to cooking the soup.

Add lardon pieces in a large, heavy - bottomed pot and cook at medium heat until they get brown and fat is released.

Leave about 2 tablespoons of fat in the pot, remove the rest and save it for later.

Add chopped onion, celery stick, garlic, celeriac, parsley root and carrot into the pot, sauté for 10-15 minutes, then add the chopped garlic and carry on for another 2-3 minutes until the veggies soften and the onion gets translucent. Add a bit of salt, pepper, parsley leaves and bay leaves, then stir in the tomato puree. 

Be careful when adding the salt, as the cooking liquid of the knuckle that goes into the pot is also salty. 

Pour the cooking liquid of the knuckle and water into the pot. To this quantity, I would add about 4-5 liters altogether, but it depends on how dense you like to eat it. 

Add the chopped knuckle, the cooked beans and the sliced sausage, bring it to boil and cook - gently simmering - for about 30-40 minutes.

Before starting, make sure that you have everything needed at hand. It is a quick process and paprika burns easily and then gets bitter, that’s why.

 Pour 1 tablespoon of fat from what was removed in the beginning (step 7) add crushed / chopped garlic and cook at medium heat until the fragrance of the garlic hits your nose. Add flour and cook until it gets slightly brown. Add paprika, give it a quick stir, and pour cold water into the saucepan straight away. Mix until it is lump-free.

Pour it into the soup and cook for 2 minutes. 

Boil water with added salt in a saucepan. Add pasta in the boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes after they have come up to the surface. Strain.

Serve with a generous amount of sour cream and freshly ground pepper. Enjoy!