This soup looks so good, but alas, looks can be deceiving. This was pure sadness to me, as this was another recipe that I never would have thought to make before, and as it simmered all day, smelling so good, I was sure that we had a winner. Basically, it is just a white bean soup (made from dried, not canned, beans), with garlic, rosemary, tomatoes, and parsley. All of that probably would have been rather tasty, but at the end of the simmering, you are supposed to add four teaspoons of red wine vinegar, and 1/4 a cup of olive oil. First of all, the oil just layers the top of the soup, and all you can smell is the olive oil. I tried stirring it, thinking that maybe the oil is supposed to incorporate somehow into the soup, but that didn't work, so we just had a thick layer of oil over the top of the soup - yuck. I eventually skimmed off as much oil as I could, since I didn't even want to eat it with the amount of oil, and the overwhelming smell with each bite. That did help, and I would suggest only adding this to your own bowl, to taste, if you want it in your soup. Also, the taste of the vinegar seemed to overtake the other flavors, so next time I would use quite a bit less. My husband thought it was okay, but definitely not something he would want to have again - he is such a trooper, though, and as we don't waste food (ever), so he took the leftovers to work and ate it all!
Mediterranean White Bean Soup p.133
The Joy of Cooking, 75th edition
Do you like feta cheese? If so, you could have left out the vinegar and oil (the oil in particular is a weird instruction), and sprinkled liberally with feta. That's often a good "end note" to Mediterranean recipes. I do a pasta (recipe stolen from Suzie) that is similar to this--handful of newly wilted spinach also good in it. .....
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of vinegar--my brother once told me he learned that adding a tiny bit of vinegar to soup (any kind) right at the end was the "secret" to good soup. I have noticed lots of recipes that add lemon juice at the very end (after taking off the heat), so this must be in the same vein--adding a little acidity at the very end to give it some bite if it is bland-tasting.
But I am with you--maybe best to have it on the table and let people experiment on their own!
Kudos to Josh for finishing it off. FETA!!! (Also? chopped kalamata olives are really good in the pasta version--maybe that is the flavor they were going for when adding olive oil.....)
[giedra]
Giedra - I love it that I can always count on you for a comment! I thought that maybe the vinegar/oil was possibly just a Mediterranean flavor combo that we just didn't appreciate, but the feta sounds great! Maybe I'll try it again with that - we usually love any bean-based soups! Also, I made it in the crockpot and the soup stayed hot after I added the vinegar - maybe that did it? Who knows, but feta I'll try!
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