It’s Seriously Soup day today, featuring one of my favorite bloggers, Serena, who authors a blog called Seriously Soupy. Serena started Seriously Soupy as a creative outlet for herself after her first daughter was born, which combined her passion for cooking with an interest in learning more about soups and soup making. Since it started, she has given soup tours and taught soup classes and has a catalog of over 100 soups on the site! You can join Serena on her Soupy journey at SeriouslySoupy.com and twice a month you can find her here, at My Judy the Foodie, sharing her wisdom and helping demystify the world of soup.
I wanted to cook with something different this week and fava beans caught my eye.
Since this a hard bean, it took quite a long time to prepare and cook (the fava beans took over four hours to soften) that also involved making homemade pesto and croutons then wrapping them prosciutto. Having never cooked fava beans, I found that the beans need something and that by adding pesto enhanced the flavors and really gave the soup a nice a hearty feel.
The croutons themselves were a simple cheese, basil, and olive oil mixture that was then wrapped in prosciutto (can be omitted).
Enjoy!
Fava Bean Pesto Soup with Prosciutto Wrapped Croutons
Ingredients:
Soup:
- 6-8 cups of water
- 1 package of dry fava beans, soaked
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- 6 white potatoes,
- 2 chives, chopped up
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 leeks, chopped – white part only
- 2 celery ribs, chopped up
- bunch of fresh basil
- tablespoon of rosemary
- tablespoon of dill
- 2-3 bay leaves
- salt
- pepper
Pesto: check out My Judy the Foodie’s How to Make Pesto video here
Prosciutto Wrapped Croutons:
- 1 loaf of crusty bread
- drizzle of olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced and peeled
- 1 tablespoon of dried basil
- 1/2 package of prosciutto
Directions:
- Soak fava beans (overnight, if possible) or until soft. Pour water into a pot and put on a medium flame. Chop up the onions and garlic and place into the pot. When the water comes to a boil add the fava beans, chives, basil, dill, bay leaves, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cover and let cook for two hours – checking on it periodically. Cut up the leeks, potatoes and celery and place them into the pot. Cover and prepare the pesto.
- Prepare the pesto: Start by pouring the pine nuts into a bowl, along with some parmesan cheese. Chop up the garlic and basil and drizzle some olive oil – coating the nuts and basil. Place in a food processor or blender until the mixture becomes a paste. Add the pesto to the soup and stir. Cover and let cook for another hour.
- Prepare the croutons: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut up the crusty bread into small squares on a baking tray. In a small bowl mix the olive oil, basil, garlic powder and cheese. Using a cooking brush, coat the pieces of bread. Place in the oven and cook for five minutes (or until golden brown) on each side. Turn off oven and let cool. Cut the prosciutto into small stripes and wrap around the croutons until finished. Set aside.
- Check on the soup. Taste (you may need some more salt and pepper) and serve with a prosciutto wrapped crouton.
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