Senate Soup
Happy Hump Day, Soupers! When looking for a new navy bean soup recipe, I stumbled upon this one and it’s a star: Senate Bean Soup with navy beans, onions and hamhocks, celery, and mashed potato and it’s souper easy.
It’s perfect on a cold day like this one! Now, I know I said we’d eat more vegetarian/ vegan soups — and we are, but we never said every day. 😛 So here’s story behind this very modest soup — it’s been prepared daily in the US Senate mess hall since the early 20th century. Eat up and enjoy!
Ingredients
5 small potatoes peeled, cubed, boiled and mashed
2 smoked ham hocks or 5 slices of bacon raw and chopped
1 pound of great northern beans or cannellini beans soaked overnight
1 yellow onion
1 stalk celery chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
5 cup(s) chicken stock
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
pinch salt and pepper to taste
1 cup, 2 % milk (soy, almond, rice or skim as alternatives work fine)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon, crème fraîche or fresh cream
1/8 cup parsley
Carolyn Moncel
Carolyn Davenport-Moncel is a digital media and communication consultant, author, mother, contrarian, book, music and reformed veggie lover and Founder and Souper-in-Chief at Simply Souperlicious, a platform devoted to helping fans "fall back in love with veggies" -- one local, seasonal, soup recipe at a time. Follow her veggie and soup journey on social media @simplysouperlicious.
- Prep 30min
- Cook30min
- Meal Time Dinner
- Serves 4
Instructions
- Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add bacon or ham hocks, beans, balsamic vinegar, paprika, and bay leaves to the stock. Add salt and pepper to taste and cook for about 20 minutes.
- Finely chop onion, garlic, and celery and lightly sauté in olive oil until tender.
- Add vegetable mixture from the pan to the boiling chicken stock and continue cooking on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Near the end of cook time (ten minutes), remove the bay leaves and add parsley soup.
- Add in mashed potatoes to the broth.
- Remove the soup mixture from heat and cool for roughly 5 minutes before transferring to a blender.
- Add milk, butter and cream to the mixture in the blender. Blend to desired consistency.
- Re-add the soup to the kettle. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
- Finish off with a final pinch of parsley and serve in a bowl.
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