Laure's Kitchen: Soup for Mori - Winter Vegetable Soup

This recipe has been on my mind for months. I posted the pictures before - now here is the soup! Feel free to add favorite vegetables and seasonings. Use the recipe as a template to create your own masterpiece. I think it is very important to use butter and olive oil and wine for the base flavor.

Lima Bean and Winter Vegetable Soup

inspired by The Greens Cook Book
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Notes:
Use the cooking liquid from the beans combined with extra water if necessary for the stock. Or use chicken or vegetable stock. I like Trader Joe’s. You can use any number of vegetables that may be asking to be cooked in your refrigerator drawers.

Ingredients

8 cups water

1 cup dry lima beans – or any dried bean such as navy, cannellini or garbanzo: quick cooking tip (if you do not have time to use dried beans – add 1 15 oz can of beans of your choice.)
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
3 tbsp butter
1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/4 inch squares
2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 carrots ( or one sweet potato), peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 small head savoy cabbage, shredded

1 parsnip, diced
1 small fennel bulb, diced into 1/4 inch pieces

1 small package of frozen corn
One 4 ounce turnip or rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch squares
4 ounces mushrooms, stems removed, caps roughly chopped

5 ounces of baby spinach or kale
6 1/2 cups stock or bean broth
Pepper
Garnish:

Any Fresh Herbs: marjoram, thyme, fennel greens, parsley, dill or a mixture, finely chopped
Grated pecorino

The Beans:

Rinse the beans well, cover them generously with water, and let them soak 6 hours or overnight; or cover them with boiling water and soak 1 hour. Pour off the soaking water and put the beans in a pot with the 8 cups water, the bay leaf, and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Bring to a boil, add 1 tsp salt, lower the heat, and simmer slowly until the beans are nearly tender. (They will continue cooking in the soup.)

Remove any of the skins that have become detached and have floated to the surface. Drain the beans and set them aside. Save the broth to use in the soup.

The Soup

Use a large soup pot with a heavy bottom, melt the butter and the remaining 1 tbsp oil, and add the onion. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally at first, and more frequently later, until the onion is a rich, dark brown, about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp salt, the nutritional yeast, if using, and the dried herbs and garlic, and cook together for a minute. Pour in the wine, reduce by half, then add all the vegetables except the spinach and another 1/2 cup stock or bean broth. Cover, and stew slowly for 10 minutes; then add 6 more cups liquid. Simmer 15 minutes, add the beans, and cook another 15 minutes. Add the spinach and cook another 5 minutes.