Day 4: White Bean & Chorizo Soup

Behold: the return of the Beans! Sorry for the break, folks; life gets messy, just like a plate of you-know-whats. Let's pick right up, shall we? Prepare for Breakneck 30 Days of Beans. One bean recipe, every weekday, for the next 25 days!


Next up: a quick-cooking, flavorful soup of white beans, chorizo, tomatoes, onion and celery in a light broth. This soup is exactly the kind of thing I like to eat: hot, spicy, and filled with suggestive-looking meat. (I keed.)


First of all: I didn't feel good about these raw chorizo pictures on many levels. I debated about even posting them, but...here for your edification: raw chorizo. Lurid, I know. If graphic tube meats give you the vapors, this soup also tastes great with smoked bacon or no meat at all: just cook the veggies in some extra olive oil. Now, let's get down to beany business, shall we?



First, we handle some meat. Either pull off the chorizo casings and crumble the meat or cook them whole and chop them up later: your choice. Render the fat from the chorizo in a little bit of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot set over medium-high heat. After about seven to ten minutes, remove and drain chorizo on a paper towel. (I will spare you the greasy orange paper towel photos.)


While the chorizo cooks, dice one sweet onion...


...and chop four or five stalks of celery.


Add the onion and celery to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the celery is tender and the onion is beginning to nicely caramelize. Add two cloves of chopped garlic and cook, stirring constantly to avoid scorched, acrid Garlic of Failure, for one minute.


Now add about 8 cups of chicken stock...


...and one 15 ounce can diced tomatoes for a little color and acidity to wake up the beans. Once the broth is warm...


...bring in the beans. You'll need about three cups of white beans. If you're short on time, canned is fine. Just rinse them thoroughly before adding to the pot.


Bring to soup to a gentle simmer, add the chorizo back to the pot, and cook for about 20 to 30 minutes. Check your seasoning and add salt and black pepper to taste. Nice, but not mandatory: garnishing with a handful of chopped, flat-leaf parsley for color and brightness of flavor.


Voila. This is one of those quick, under one hour recipes that tastes like you cooked all day, particularly without expensive, processed convenience foods. Or weird mugging from Rachael Ray. Enjoy.



White Bean and Chorizo Soup from BeanPlate
serves about 8

1 lb. beef and pork chorizo (or smoked bacon)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
4 ribs of celery, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
8 cups low-sodium or homemade chicken broth
3 cans of Great Northern (or any small white) beans
kosher salt
freshly-ground pepper
flat-leaf parsley, minced for garnish

Pull off the chorizo casings and crumble the meat. Render the fat from the chorizo in a little bit of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stock pot set over medium-high heat. After about seven to ten minutes, remove chorizo from pot and drain on a paper towel.

While the chorizo cooks, dice onion and slice celery. After removing chorizo, add onion and celery to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the celery is tender and the onion is beginning to nicely caramelize. Add two cloves of chopped garlic and cook, stirring constantly to avoid burning, for one minute.

Add chicken stock and tomatoes to pot. Bring soup to a simmer and add beans and chorizo. Once beans are warmed through, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped parsley before serving.