use real butter

Can you believe that I’ve been prattling on for four years on Use Real Butter? Yup, it’s URB’s fourth blogiversary today. My perspective on food has changed so much in that time and I have to credit the food blogosphere for a lot of inspiration and education. URB didn’t start as a food blog, but eventually the food side of the blog kept the name and moved into the public arena… and here we are! So thanks to all of the readers and fellow bloggers who keep the whole enchilada lively and fun, but especially to those of you who stuck with me through my craptastic year of cancer treatment - thank you.

i cried a river of tears over those onions

The inaugural recipe for my new All Clad stock pot arrived in my post office box just last week in the form of a shiny January 2009 issue of Fine Cooking. It is officially soup weather here in my little mountain town. High winds, snow, and temperatures plummeting below freezing put me in the mood to make a big pot of hearty soup. It was also a great way to clear out my crisper drawer in the refrigerator as I always seem to have a few carrots and celery stalks lounging about. Kaweah loves when I make soups chock full of vegetables because she enjoys munching on the occasional carrot or cabbage leaf.

browning the italian sausage

There were a handful of beautiful soups to choose from, but I immediately settled on pasta e fagioli because I had been searching for a recipe lately. How timely. The Fine Cooking version called for bacon, and frying the onions in the bacon grease… sounded great, but I opted for some Italian sausage instead. After browning the sausage, I drained off the grease and sautéed the onions in vegetable oil.

garlic, rosemary, and cinnamon

adding spices to the sautéed onions

I found the cinnamon stick to be a curious addition to the soup. While I love soups and stews, I’m not so well versed in the myriad of spices and herbs that determine the personality of a dish. Perhaps that is something to work on this winter.

canned great northern beans and diced tomatoes

In addition to subbing sausage for the bacon, I also omitted the chick peas (garbanzo beans) in favor of cannelli beans. But while I was at the store, cannelli beans were nowhere to be found. I wheeled up and down the bean aisle and then the bulk foods aisle and back again, caught in an infinite loop unable to find my beans. Not wanting to waste any more of my life searching for something I was pretty sure they didn’t have, I settled on great northern beans as a substitute for my substitute.

adding the broth, beans, and vegetables

Macaroni would have been an easy pasta to use, but I really like the short tubular pastas. Why I get these specific shapes, textures, or flavors in my head for certain recipes, I don’t know… Call me particular. Whole Foods had crap for a selection. That miffed me. I suppose I (unreasonably) expect Whole Foods to carry every specialty item I seek because they charge me so damn much for *everything*. That may not make sense. I never claimed to make sense. I did find some Ditalini at Safeway, which was exactly what I wanted in my soup.

toss in the cooked sausage and pasta

After all of the prep, the assembly of the soup was quick. Thirty minutes on simmer and it was done. So the verdict on that cinnamon stick? I love it. It’s different from what I am used to and I think the spice brings out a warm and lively dimension to the pasta e fagioli that might otherwise taste ordinary, bland. This is a keeper recipe.

lovin’ spoonful

Pasta e Fagioli
modified from Fine Cooking no. 96 (January 2009)

1 lb. Italian sausage, bulk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 red onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 quarts chicken broth
2 cans (15 oz ea) great northern or cannelli beans, drained
2 cans (15 oz ea) diced tomatoes, with juice
4 medium carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
1 cup ditalini pasta, cooked and drained
2 tsp red wine vinegar
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for garnish

In a large stock pot, brown the Italian sausage until cooked. Remove from pot and drain. Heat the vegetable oil in the stock pot and sauté the onions until softened. Add the garlic and rosemary, cooking until fragrant. Add the broth, beans, tomatoes, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, cinnamon stick, and water. Bring to boil over high heat then reduce and let simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Discard the cinnamon stick, then stir in the sausage, cooked pasta, and vinegar. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and more vinegar. Serve hot with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for garnish.

Okay kids, I really have been thinking of that giveaway. I believe I have settled on the prize, but I need a little more time to come up with an interesting question - something that allows me to learn a little bit about my readers. You can be sure that my questions are out of curiosity and not some bloody marketing strategy.

It’s soup season. I was going to say it is soup weather, except it wasn’t when I made this - it was positively balmy and sunny. I wanted to cry my eyes out. Where the *bleep* is my snow?! But today IS soup weather. Overcast, cooler (high in the 50s), rainy… I love it. I have been wanting to try a recipe for seven bean soup for several years. When I walked into the grocery store, I searched the bulk bins for beans. I needed a half cup each of seven types. And then I came across the bin with THIRTEEN beans, all mixed together, right there for me! It was so pretty, I could not resist.

13 kinds

In the continuing saga of emptying out my freezer, I found not one, but TWO ham bones! I am always the dork who lurks around at parties that served large hunks of meat, asking if I could have the bone. I have heard that foodie types fight over turkey carcasses or ham bones at holiday parties, but I seem to be surrounded by non-cooks who don’t know that broth comes from bones.

two ham bones - yip!

a nice yield of ham from the bones

While the broth cooked, it gave the house a heady smell - that of baked southern-style ham. You know what I’m talking about - the ham that packs enough sodium to kill a party of 12? Oh yeah, baby, that’s the one. If I sound like someone gushing over her lover, it’s because I grew up in Virginia where Pork is King AND I’m Chinese (pork is also King… or Emperor?). Anyway, I tried out a nifty trick because I was getting impatient waiting for the broth to cool. I usually de-fat my broth by letting it cool and refrigerating it so I can remove the fat. But this broth was taking so long to cool off and there was too much fat to ignore, so I de-fatted it with ziploc bags.

defatting the broth

like so

Worked like a charm! And it also took me back to my sixth grade science fair experiment where I measured the rate of water discharge from a nozzle at the bottom of a bucket and how it varied with volume (height for constant cross-sectional area) of water in the bucket. First Place. SCIENCE!!!

stirring in the beans

sauté

The soup is chocked full of delicious beans, vegetables, precious pork meat(s), and that lovely broth. The southern-style ham lends enough sodium to the broth that I never had to add any salt. The ham also gives a little bit of a smokiness to the soup without tasting burnt.

pan fried sausage slices

dump everything into the soup

Awesome soup. I’m having a bowl of it for dinner right now as I type. Those ham bones work magic too, because the moment I put the bones in the pot, Kaweah came and plunked her little furry self in the middle of the kitchen. I nearly killed myself a few times tripping over her, but she would not be separated from those ham bones… The only thing I would do differently is to dice the sausage rather than slice into discs. I think it works better with the size of the beans and vegetables.

hearty

Seven Thirteen Bean Soup
slightly modified from The Complete Book of Soups and Stews by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

3 1/2 cups dried beans (preferably a variety of at least seven, but go for more if you like)
[navy, pinto, cranberry, kidney, black-eyed, garbanzo, lima, etc.]
water to cover the beans
2 ham bones
10 cups of water
2 tbsps butter
2 medium onions, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
4 ribs celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
28 oz. canned tomatoes, including liquid
1 lb. kielbasa or some kind of garlic sausage
salt, if desired
black pepper, to taste

Soak the dried beans overnight in a large vessel with enough water to cover 3 inches above the beans. In a large pot, cover ham bones in enough water with 2 inches above the bones (about 10 cups). Bring water to boil and partially cover with lid, reduce heat and simmer over low for 2.5 hours. Skim off brown film as it collects on the surface. Drain the beans. While meat is cooking, place beans in another saucepan and add water to cover plus 2 or 3 inches above beans (about 4 quarts). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or until the beans are al dente - not mushy. Drain the beans and set aside. In a large skillet, heat the butter to foaming, add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Sauté until translucent but not browned. Set aside. Cut sausage into diagonal 1/4 inch slices and fry in skillet [OR dice, which I prefer]. Cook until fat is released and meat is browned, about 10 minutes. Lift out pieces and discard the fat. When ham bones are done, remove pot from heat and strain the broth into another vessel to cool slightly. Pick off any meat from the ham bones and chop up finely. Discard fat and bones.

To de-fat the broth: When broth is no longer hot (but warm is okay), carefully pour half of the contents into a gallon ziploc bag (set it in a bowl or tall tupperware for support). Seal the bag and let the fat settle out from the broth to the top. Hold the bag above the liquid, in your intended soup pot with one corner pointing straight down. Take a sharp knife and puncture the bag as close to the tip as possible. Let the broth release into the pot. When the fat layer nears the cut in the bag, pinch it closed with the other hand and discard. Repeat with second bag.

Add the chopped ham meat, cooked beans, vegetables (including tomatoes), and the sausage slices to the broth. Simmer the soup over medium-low heat for 30-45 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Serve hot.