Yellow Eye Chowder
- Course: Soup
Summary:
Yellow eye beans have a neutral yet earthy flavor when cooked, making them a natural for chowder. Sage has a warming flavor that pairs beautifully with any sweet vegetable. Add smoky chicken or turkey to make a hearty soup that is perfect for cold-weather eating.
Serve this soup with your favorite artisan bread and a salad of beets, oranges and spinach.
Be sure to reserve the beans' soaking liquid, as it is included in this recipe.
6 to 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 to 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 2 ribs celery, trimmed and finely chopped
- 3 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 pound yellow eye beans, soaked (see related TIPS on soaking and cooking)
- 2 small dark-orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, cut into 1/3-inch dice (about 3 cups)
- 8 ounces smoked turkey or chicken, shredded
- 2 to 3 sage leaves, minced
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic; cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and fragrant. Add the beans and their soaking liquid, plus enough cold water to cover the beans by 1 inch. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low or low, cover partially and cook for about 1 hour, until the beans are just starting to soften but are still fairly firm.
Add the sweet potatoes, smoked turkey or chicken and the sage; season with salt and pepper to taste, stirring to combine. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, with the chowder barely bubbling at the edges. The beans should be tender but not falling apart. Ladle the chowder into individual warmed bowls. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve hot.
About Soaking and Cooking Heirloom Beans:The new "Heirloom Beans" cookbook by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington (Chronicle, 2008) devotes four pages to the basics of soaking and cooking a simple pot of beans, but Sando has boiled the key techniques down to a three-minute video on YouTube.com.
Part of the reason these steps work so well is that he uses his Rancho Gordo heirloom beans, which have great flavor and great variety in texture and color. Excerpts, with cookbook information in parentheses:
- Rinse the beans (one pound).
- Soak for about six hours (in a bowl, covered with water by about 1 inch).
- When ready to cook, heat some oil in a medium pot (over medium heat).
- Chop up some carrot, celery and onion (all in big chunks) and smash some cloves of garlic. Add to the pot.
- When the vegetables are soft, add the beans and cover with water by about 1 inch (soaking liquid also may be added).
- Bring the water to a rapid, full boil.
- Reduce the heat to a mere simmer (medium-low) and allow the beans to cook, covered, for about 1 to 2 hours.
- When the beans are soft, add salt to taste. (In the cookbook, Sando recommends adding a scant 2 teaspoons of salt per pot that starts with 1 pound of dried beans. He cooks the beans a while longer so that they soak up the flavor.)
Recipe Source:
Adapted from "Heirloom Beans, " by Steve Sando and Vanessa Barrington (Chronicle, 2008).
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