Raw ingredients (except the zuni beans and andouille sausage)

The heritage zuni beans are the ones in the front that are yellowish. The little black numbers are Beluga Lentils, and I cannot remember the name of the piebald ones on the left.

I thought I had better include a soup recipe since I put a soup picture up on facebook. This is what we had for dinner tonight - it is kind of the basic soup which I play around with. The soup pictured on face book was similar to this Winter Soup except instead of andouille sausage I put in leftover ham, instead of chicken I added halibut and prawns. Pretty much the rest of the ingredients were the same. In the case of making it a fish soup, I don't add the fish to the pot, rather, once the soup has cooked, I brown the halibut on both sides, then finish it in the oven. Meanwhile, while the halibut is cooking in the oven I quickly saute the prawns. These two ingredients get put in the soup bowls, then ladle the soup around and over the fish. Voila. The remaining soup can be eaten as is for lunches, or another dinner.

Winter Soup

This recipe is made with a stock I’ve made from roasting two whole chickens for a previous meal. There is a ton of leftover meat, which I also use in the soup, left in as large of pieces as possible. The resulting soup has a super-chunk, hearty look to it. I used a heritage zuni bean that cooked up to a buttery soft bean that really soaked up the flavour of garlic and bay leaf that I always add to the cooking water.

Ingredients

1 onion, diced small

2 carrots, peeled and diced small

1/3 of a large celery root, peeled and diced small

¼ head of fennel, sliced

2 heads garlic, minced

5 sticks green curly kale, stemmed and chopped

¼ head savoy cabbage, sliced

6 inches of andouille sausage, sliced

5 litres chicken stock

Couple of cups chunk-ish pieces of cooked chicken

3 cups cooked white navy beans, or any bean of your choice

garnish with fresh, chopped parley (optional)

Preparation

Hot Pot:

Throw diced onions, carrots, celery root, fennel, garlic, kale, sausage, stock, chicken and beans into the cooker. Cook on high. Walk away for 3 hours…ka-pow, done, garnish and eat!

The more refined, traditional Soup Pot Method:

Saute the onions and garlic until softened. Add carrots, celery root, fennel, garlic, kale and sausage, stir occasionally, cooking until the vegetables wilt. Add chicken stock, beans and chicken, bring to a simmer. Lower heat and cook for about an hour and a half or until the vegetables are tender. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

For us (as in two adults), this is our dinner. If you feel weird just eating soup, make a salad too. I always put bread, butter, cheese and other snacky things for the kids. Better to avoid those if you can. 

This makes a huge pot of soup of which we use for lunches and after school snacks for the next few days.