Spanish Pumpkin and Bean Soup
Serves 6 to 8.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas
- 1 cup small dried white beans, such as Great Northern
- 2 quarts plus 3 cups water
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup diced ham
- 1 Tbs. sweet paprika
- 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
- Pinch of saffron, steeped in 1/4 cup hot chicken stock or water
- 12 almonds
- 1 slice bread, cut in half
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbs. sherry vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups peeled and coarsely chopped pumpkin or butternut squash
- 3 pears, peeled, halved, cored and cut into chunks
- 1/2 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
Pick over the chickpeas and white beans, and discard any misshapen beans and stones. Rinse the chickpeas and beans and drain. Place in a bowl, add water to cover generously and let soak overnight, then drain.In a saucepan over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the chickpeas and beans and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chickpeas and beans are tender, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, in a sauté pan over medium heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add the onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the ham and paprika, mixing well, and then mix in the tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Add the saffron and stock to the pan, mix well and set aside.
In another sauté pan over medium heat, warm the remaining 6 Tbs. olive oil. Add the almonds, bread and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the almonds, bread and garlic to a mortar or a small food processor. Grind with a pestle or process to a paste. Add the vinegar, mixing well. Set aside.
After the chickpeas and white beans have cooked for 1 hour, add the pumpkin and pears and simmer for 10 minutes. Finally, stir in the tomato-onion mixture, the green beans and the bread mixture, and simmer until the green beans and pumpkin are tender and the flavors are blended, 10 to 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle into warmed bowls and serve immediately.
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Rated 5 out of
5
by
htownmom from
great soup!
This soup is delicious! Even my teenage boys liked it. I could eat this soup every night. I made a few changes. Used 1C dried lentils, didn't soak overnight, just covered with water, brought to a boil and simmered til done. I added the various ingredient mixtures as I completed them, instead of setting them aside and adding later. The squash takes longer to cook than the pear, and they both take longer than recipe indicates. I added pear about 15 mins after squash, then took a 45 min walk while soup simmered. Also added some smokey paprika along with sweet paprika.
Date published: 2015-01-12
Rated 4 out of
5
by
bakerbabes from
really good
It's hard to find a soup that fills myriad dietary requirements, isn't boring, and is filling. This one hits the spot. Without the pears I can make it with what I have in the freezer and pantry. For GF I leave out the bread, for vegetarian/vegan I drop the ham and swap the broth for vegetable stock. It's still good any way. We freeze or pressure can this soup too (without the bread of course) and it's even better later.
Date published: 2014-12-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Nkdeck07 from
Delicious, hearty fall soup that stores easy
My boyfriend and I made this soup on Sunday and it has shot to the top of our favorite soups list. It's easy to make, incredibly tasty, so filling and fairly healthy as there is no cream or anything. We made a batch on Sunday and have been eating it for lunch all week.
It works great as a meal on its own because the beans give it so much protein. We also subbed out chicken sausage for ham because it's what we had on hand and it's incredibly tasty with that as well.
I've already shared this recipe with everyone I know and will be making a batch for my parents next time I go home.
Quick tip: If you don't have time to soak the beans using canned beans worked fine in this recipe.
Date published: 2012-09-25