Soup for the Soul

Sometime a year or two ago, I found myself with some chicken breast and bacon and not much else in my fridge for dinner and certainly no time for a big trip to the market. So, in hopes of coming up with something to feed the family, I used the google and found this wonderful Chicken, Bacon and White Bean Soup. I am going to admit it: I cheated immediately and didn't follow the recipe. Even the most amazing SAHM who waits until 4 pm to figure out dinner can't start with dried beans. So I cheated, but it was for a good cause!

This taught me an important lesson, or, actually a FEW important lessons:

First, I can always sneak in an afternoon nap and still look like I had a productive day with a little planning ahead and a good stock of beans, soup stocks and chicken breasts.

Second, unless you just LOVE looking at cookbooks (which I do), you need never buy another cookbook again. The internets is all you need to find healthy, easy recipes which have been rated by (hopefully) people with taste buds. Avoid ANY recipe with more than one negative review, because I figure most people eat crap and if the average person thinks it tastes bad, I probably will too. Also, check out the comments for suggested changes. Sometimes, people find recipes too spicy or too salty. This is a good thing to know before you dive right in. You often won't find these comments in cookbooks, though you do hope the author figured that out beforehand and changed the recipes.

And, finally and most importantly, I learned that shallots were sent down from on high to give soups soul. Seriously, I'd never used a shallot before I tried this soup and now I am hooked; I sometimes add them to soups that just seem to have SOMETHING missing. Notice the depth the shallots add to this soup; shallots give soups a sense of aged wisdom and, especially in the cold and wet of mid-winter, a warmth that will reach all the way to your toes.

Here's the cup I had for lunch today! Mmmmm.

(And, yes, that is a little bay leaf poking it's head up and saying "Hello!")

First, the ACTUAL recipe:

Chicken, Bacon and White Bean Soup

1 lb dried white beans

1/2 lb bacon (cut into 1/2-inch pieces)

2 cups chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 T minced shallots (Glorious, I tell you!)

1 T minced garlic

2 bay leaves (The recipe called for 2, not me. But you know this was the deal-breaker!)

1 t salt

1/4 t cayenne

8 cups chicken stock or broth

12 oz cooked, diced chicken

1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

1. Put the beans in a large pot or bowl. Remove any stones or broken beans. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches and soak for 8 hours. (This is when I realized that cheating was necessary.) Drain and set aside.

2. Fry the bacon in a medium, heavy stock pot until crisp, drain on paper towels. Pour off all but 2 T grease (another place I had to cheat). Add the onions and celery and cook over medium-high heat until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, shallots, bay leaves, salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, for one minute.

3. Add the beans and chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, about 1-1/2 hours.

4. Add the chicken and bacon and stir well. Remove and discard bay leaves (EGADS. You know I cheated here.) To serve, ladel the soup into bowls and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

OMG... this soup is sure to be divine, if I ever actually make it this way! I also think that the flavor of the shallots and bay leaves would make this a nice vegetarian bean soup if you just substitute vegetable broth, cook the beans and then change step 4 altogether: Omit bacon and chicken and add some chopped greens, cook until tender. Sprinkle with a GOOD Pecorino Romano and feed your soul.

That said, here is my

Super-Quick School-Night Version of Chicken, Bacon and White Bean Soup

2 cans Cannelini Beans, drained

1/2 lb center-cut bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 cups chopped yellow onion

1 cup chopped celery

4 T minced shallot

2 T minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1 t salt

4 cups (1 carton) of Roasted Chicken Stock

4 cups of chicken bouillon

2 chicken breasts or leftover breast meat from Rotisserie Chicken

Grated Pecorino Romano to taste

Lightly spray a fry pan with cooking spray or oil over medium heat. Lightly season chicken breasts and brown on both sides in frypan. Reduce heat and cover. Allow to cook through while you are preparing the rest of the soup. [If you are using leftover breast meat, skip this step, but go ahead and take your rotisserie chicken out of the fridge... no one wants cold chicken in their soup!]

Fry the bacon in a heavy stockpot over medium high heat until super-crisp. Remove and drain on paper towls. Drain all of the bacon grease, except for what you have to actually WIPE out of the pot. Leave the cracklin's too!

Add the onions and celery, cook over medium heat for 4 minutes and add your shallots. Cook for another few minutes, add garlic, salt, bay leaves and cayenne. Saute for a few minutes more.

Add chicken stock, bouillon and beans and cook, uncovered for 15 minutes to allow flavors to mix and cook vegetables through.

Remove cooked chicken from frypan and allow to cool. Dice breast meat and add to soup, along with bacon. Stir in to distribute yummy meaty bits throughout the soup.

Ladle soup into bowls and top with a healthy sprinkling of freshly-grated Pecorino Romano.

Enjoy!