Porotos granados

porotos granados

While waiting for Candi to re-emerge (she has been very busy with her work) you’ll have to suffer my experiments again. I haven’t blogged a soup for a long time but following a request from my sister in law Stefania who, like me, is a fan of soups and has tried most of the ones I have blogged so far, I decided the time had come to experiment again. She needed some inspiration and I was more than happy to oblige! With winter approaching what better than a nice, hot soup complete with some home made bread  (yes! I made that too !) to warm the cockles of one’s heart ? This time I went to Chile for the inspiration. The literal translation of the soup’s name, according to Google, is bean stew. Well, considering it is rather thick and rich perhaps it’s not far off a stew. The good thing about it is that it contains beans, hence proteins, making it a complete meal in itself. I used cannellini but any smallish beans will do (like pinto, aduki, borlotti etc.). I really liked it and will definitely be making it again.  Once again there are many recipes out there for porotos granados but I followed Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s recipe out of his River Cottage Veg every day book (I am afraid you will see a lot of his recipes in the near future as I have turned vegetarian) with a slight variation at the end as I added fresh basil to it which I had seen in other recipes on line. Also, and I am sure it’s not very Chilean, I served mine with grated parmesan.  Live dangerously, I say! I would put parmesan on everything, me! I have even tried it on porridge. Yummy!  By the way, if the Italians can’t get hold of a butternut squash I reckon this soup would be equally good made with some good quality pumpkin (not the watery and tasteless Halloweeny variety, mind!).

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
• A handful of oregano or marjoram, chopped (I used dry oregano which I brough back from Greece)
• 100g small dried beans, such as pinto, navy or cannellini beans, soaked overnight in cold water, or 400g tin beans, drained and well rinsed (sorry Hugh! I used the timed variety. Much quicker!)
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 750g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2cm chunks
• 200g French beans, trimmed and cut into 2cm pieces
• Kernels cut from 2 cobs of corn (I used frozen corn. Approx. 300-350 gr.)
• a small handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped (my addition)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

METHOD

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté gently for about 10 minutes. Add the paprika and the oregano. Cook for another minute.

If using dried beans, drain them after soaking and add to the pan, with the stock and bay leaf. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the beans are completely tender (dried beans vary, and sometimes this may take over an hour). Add the squash, stir well and simmer for 10–15 minutes until the squash is just tender, then add the French beans and corn kernels and simmer for another 5 minutes.

If using tinned beans, add the drained, rinsed beans, the squash, bay leaf and stock at the same time, and simmer until the squash is just tender, 10–15 minutes. Then add the French beans and corn kernels and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

To finish, season well with plenty of pepper. Add the chopped basil , leave to settle for a couple of minutes, then serve.

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