COMFORT FOOD
Some delicious bean soups
I love soup, both the making and the eating of it. I like the challenge of making it from whatever is in the fridge, or with deliberately purchased ingredients for a specific soup — borscht being one of my favourites.
Soup slows you down in the cooking and the eating of it. From prepping, to stirring the pot and judging the seasoning, to taking the first tentative spoonfuls from the cooler area near the rim of the bowl, soup is calming and soothing.
The best part for me is the aroma of a simmering soup, especially as the weather gets chillier.
These soups are bean-based, and start with soaking the beans. Many people own electric pressure cookers which speed up the cooking. One of my tricks is putting the beans in the oven to cook and taking advantage of the oven being on to cook other things at the same time.
I chose beans because they make slow, flavourful soups and inexpensive meals that can easily be meat-, dairy- and gluten-free, as well as high on the delicious scale.
I deliberately kept the ingredients simple. Most people have a carrot or two kicking around, onions and a bunch of celery.
The white bean and kale soup was approximately $9 to make with ingredients from my local independent grocery store, which is pretty wonderful considering it makes 4 litres of soup.
You have the bonus of cooking once and having some soup for now, and some for later.