mulberryshoots

This morning, I took a package of dried navy beans out – used half of it by boiling it and letting it soak for an hour. The other half will be used to make New England baked beans on Monday, Memorial Day, to go with a cookout of hot dogs and hamburgers.

To make the soup, I sauteed together two cloves of garlic, a shallot and a Vidalia onion  – all chopped into small pieces. Added two carrots cut in quarter slice and some celery hearts. To the vegetable roux, I added the drained beans, water to cover and some Knorr chicken broth in gel form. The soup simmered for a couple of hours and after it cooled, I used an immersion blender to puree it. After tasting it, I added a little salt and a half gelatin of chicken broth with about a cup of water since the soup was very thick.  Simmered it for another half hour and added a half cup of whole milk.

Served the bean soup with a large salad of greens, avocado, Navel orange segments and honey walnuts with a ranch dressing with Gravenstein apple balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A half dozen large popovers rounded out the meal. Nice on a Saturday night!