Greek Food: Fasolada

For Greeks, the 40 day pre-Easter Lenten fast means beans have been quite common over the last little while, which means we are eagerly looking forward to the Paschal lamb this coming Easter Sunday. So, I will wish you all a Happy Easter  As a bonus, I will share with you what went into my last bowl of for quite some time to come.

This is my own version of the rustic bean soup which is a Lenten friendly dish and makes for a hearty vegan meal.

Ingredients:

=1 lb dried haricot (white kidney) beans
=2 medium sized carrots, sliced into discs
=2 medium cooking onions, diced
=2 stalks of celery, sliced thin
=1 cup tomato sauce (i.e. pommodoro) or 3 finely diced tomatoes.
=1 medium sized parsnip, quartered and thinly sliced
=1 tbsp. dried rosemary
=1 tbsp. dried thyme
=3 bay leaves
=¼ cup of olive oil
=4 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
=4 - 6 garlic cloves, whole or halved
=Salt and pepper

 Preparation:

=Soak beans overnight in roughly three times their volume of water.

=Dump beans into a colander and rinse well before use.

=Put 3 quarts of water in a pot, add the beans and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim away surface foam as it develop. Boil beans for 16 minutes, continuing to skim away surface foam using a wooden spoon. At the 16 minute mark, skim off the last bit of foam and dump the pot’s content into a colander to strain and rinse the beans. Also rinse the pot well.

=Put another 3 quarts of fresh water in the pot, bring it to a boil and add the beans. After 5 minutes, skim any remaining surface foam that may develop, and then add all of the remaining ingredients into the pot. Stir the contents of the pot well and when it has resumed boiling, cover the pot with its lid slightly ajar and let it simmer over low heat for 2 hours. Stir occasionally and check to ensure ample liquid in the pot to keep the beans from sticking to the bottom. Though it is technically a soup, you do not want a very runny fassoulada, nor do you want one that is thick and gooey, so monitor the water content of the pot and add a cup or so if necessary.