Fazolová Polévka : Czech Bean Soup

This is the second recipe suggested by the lovely people who have been sending me postcards via the rather wonderful Post Crossing website.  Today's soup is a Czech recipe and was suggested by Anna (Who also sent me a postcard with a picture of the Bohemian forest on it, but not a rhapsody to be seen, I'm afraid...)

One problem I encountered when putting this recipe together was that during the research phase - it's like NASA round here when I get on a soup tip - that most of the websites I looked at for inspiration were in Czech.  Now, in the 21st Century, you wouldn't think that this would be a problem.  Except that Google Translate, whilst being pretty amazing, can sometimes throw up some weird things.  For instance, does adding basil to a recipe reduce flatulence?  Or did the original Czech mean something entirely different.  And what exactly is White Bone Stock?  (I suspect this may be a real thing, as I've come across recipes for Bone Soup before)

So after some struggling, I came up with this approximation of Czech Bean Soup, with added smoked sausage that I initially bought for another soup, the making of which was thwarted by the fact Morrisons butchery department has stopped stocking pig's trotters (Can the fact that Morrisons plc just published lower than expected sales figures be in some way related to the vanishing pigs feet?)

However, fear not, as a trip to Leeds Market will hopefully furnish me with the required bits for next week.  In the meantime, enjoy this simple but delicious soup, which is probably great for all those of you on a post xmas diet (especially if you leave out the sour cream, or substitute some natural yogurt instead)

Ingredients
2 Tins of Cannellini Beans  
1 Small Onion
1 Carrot
2 Stalks of Celery 
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
Chicken Stock
6 Sage Leaves
Olive Oil Smoked Sausage
250ml Sour Cream
Salt
Black Pepper 

Method
1.  Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic.

2.  Heat some olive oil in a pan.  Add the vegetables and cook gently for 5-7 minutes, until they start to go soft.

3. Add the stock.  Rinse the beans and add them too, as well as the bay leaf and sage.  Bring the soup to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes, until the beans have gone soft.  Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

4.  Blend the soup until smooth, then return to the pan.  Adjust seasoning and then reheat gently.  Stir in the sour cream at this point, but don't let the soup boil.

5.  Grill or fry some thin slices of smoked sausage.  Pour the soup into warm bowls and then garnish with the slices of sausage.  Serve with crusty bread.  Enjoy!

Spicy Carrot, Bean and Coconut Soup

Winter is coming... well, winter is here, actually*.  The trees and the ground is dusted with a fine sprinkling of silver frost, one's breath can be seen as a mist on the chill air, the sunlight is brittle and bright and everything has a slightly unreal, fairy tale quality about it.  It really is quite spectacular.

See how nice everything looks at this time of year?

Apart from the cold I have got.  Now my nose is blocked, my throat feels like it's caught in a vice and my mind seems to wander at the slightest distraction.  It really is rather unpleasant and another rather annoying side-effect it the magical disappearing sense of taste. So I thought that to ease this, and also to make myself a little bit more healthy, I would cook up something hearty, wholesome and perhaps a little bit spicy to see if I could actually taste anything.

If this soup tastes awful, don't blame me - I can't taste a thing at the moment and I'm more pre-occupied by why you can't get Lucozade in glass bottles wrapped in orange cellophane any more.  That's what I had when I was a child and it always made me feel better and I demand it now (Lucozade in plastic bottles doesn't taste the same, and I'm sure its restorative powers are somehow dimished as well - its chicken soup for those of us without wise Jewish grandmothers to make it for us...)

When Mrs Soup came in, the first thing she said was "That smells amazing", sadly I can't smell a thing, so you should take her word for it and give this recipe a go, nop matter what I say, being grumpy and with cold and all that...

Ingredients
2 Onions, diced
500g Carrots, Chopped
400g Tine of Mixed Beans
40g Ginger
1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
1tsp Cumin Seeds
1 Red Chili
2tbsp Oil
Juice of 1 Orange
800ml Vegetable Stock
250ml Coconut Milk
Fresh Coriander
Salt

Method
In a large thick bottomed pan, heat the oil, and then add the chopped onions and carrots.  Cook them for about 10 minutes over a low heat, until they are soft and starting to colour.


Whilst the vegetables are cooking, grind the ginger,  chili, cumin seeds, salt and Garam Masala with a pestle and mortar, until they make a thick, smooth paste.


When the vegetables are ready, add the paste and cook for anothr 2-3 minutes over a low heat.  Then add the stock and orange juice and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

With a hand blender, blend the soup until it's smooth (you might want to let it cool down a bit first) and then add the beans, cook for a further 10 minutes and then add the coconut milk, heating through before serving with chopped coriander leaves on top.

I served mine with hmoe made naan bread - aren't I a fancy-pants today? Enjoy!

*I've been reading too much Game of Thrones recently, hence the quote and hence some of the flowery language in this post.  It's coming back in April on the telly!  Yay...