Minestrone Soup
Ingredients Borlotti beans Cabbage Pasta Carrot Celery Parsley Diced onion Diced garlic Olive oil Salt You can use fresh borlotti beans … or dried beans
Legumes (also known as pulses) are cooked in a number of ways: casserole, baked, pilaf, salads and dips.
Traditionally, there are some important steps followed for all legumes:
Always go through legumes for stones
They are soaked overnight before cooking and rinsed half way through the cooking – when they start splitting
Olive oil is added early, after rinsing, for better flavour. More olive oil can be added towards the end of cooking or during serving – for extra flavour
To avoid the hardening of the legumes, tomatoes are added at a later stage, but not too late; tomato paste can be added earlier
Aromatic and flavouring greens such as parsley, fennel and Mediterranean hartwort are added towards the end, again, for better flavour.
Cook legumes well and on low heat – for better flavour; if in doubt, overcook legumes
Salt (for flavour) is added late, again, to prevent the hardening of the legumes.
The practice of eating legumes with bread, in addition to enhancing the flavour, facilitates a balanced protein intake (the legume proteins are complimented by those of the bread). However, the highly refined supermarket bread does not provide the necessary flavour and satisfaction when eaten with legumes. In fact, I have met older Greek people who, in order to make supermarket bread more palatable, let it dry before eating it. Until then I thought I was the only one following this practice.
Ingredients Borlotti beans Cabbage Pasta Carrot Celery Parsley Diced onion Diced garlic Olive oil Salt You can use fresh borlotti beans … or dried beans
Ingredients Lima Beans Pepper Carrot Celery Diced Tomatoes Fennel Diced Onion Diced Garlic Lemon Juice Olive Oil Salt Soak beans overnight – notice the enlargement.
Ingredients Lentils Celery Carrot Parsley Bay leaf Diced Tomato Onion Olive Oil Salt Go through lentils for stones. Cook lentils until they start splitting and
Ingredients Lentils Rice Onion Olive Oil Lemon juice Salt 2 cups of lentils. Go through them for stones. Cook lentils until they start splitting and
Ingredients Chickpeas Celery Carrot Parsley Diced Tomato Onion Olive Oil Salt Soak chickpeas overnight. Notice the enlargement (left). Cook chickpeas (removing the froth as it
Ingredients Cannellini Beans Celery Carrot Parsley Diced Tomato Onion Olive Oil Salt Cook beans (removing the froth as it develops) until they start splitting. Drain
Cooking Ingredients Skinned Broad Beans Salt Dressing Ingredients Parsley Diced Onion Diced Garlic Olive Oil Lemon or Vinegar Soak skinned broad beans. Notice the
Cooking Ingredients Black Eye Beans Silverbeet Salt Dressing Ingredients Diced Onion Diced Garlic Lemon or Vinegar Olive Oil Cook black eye beans until they start
Ingredients Black Eye Beans Wild Greens eg. Thistle, Dandelion Celery Tomatoes Onion (diced) Garlic (diced) Chilli Olive Oil Salt Optional Any other beans instead of
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