Chorizo and Chickpea Soup with Fennel
December 18, 2016
Aunt Suzy says . . .
It’s soup Sunday up here in Minnesota! Waking up to minus 18 degrees (FAHRENHEIT!!) demands something warming. I recently found the soup cookbook, Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers Cookbook at my local library and since I’m always looking for a new twist on soup, I checked it out. This soup caught my eye because of lack of tomatoes and that fresh fennel was part of the base. I love tomatoes in soups, but it’s nice to have some tasty versions without. This was easy to make, even though it requires a lot of chopping. I made a huge pot and plan to freeze some of it, thinking it will freeze well. Enjoy with some crusty bread, a baguette or crostini and a nice white wine.
Chorizo and Chickpea Soup with Fennel
Ingredients – makes 5-8 servings
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 Spanish chorizo sausages, split lengthwise and sliced (we like Amylu Chicken Chorizo)
1 large onion
1-2 carrots, small dice
2-3 stalks celery, small dice
2-3 small fennel bulbs, cored, small dice
1-2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
3/4-1 1/4 cup dry white wine
6-9 cups chicken stock, homemade or your favorite store-bought
Several sprigs thyme tied together with kitchen string
Salt and pepper to taste
3-4 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (2-3 small cans or cooked from dried)
Directions
Heat a stockpot or Dutch oven to medium high and coat with the olive oil. Add the sliced chorizo and saute till slightly browned. Note, this recipe uses Spanish style fully cooked chorizo, not Mexican chorizo which is raw. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion, carrots, celery, rosemary and fennel. Saute until the vegetables start to soften 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook a couple of more minutes. Add the white wine and simmer for a few minutes to burn off the alcohol. Add the chicken stock and the thyme. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Add the cooked chickpeas and simmer 10-20 more minutes to blend the flavors. Remove the thyme bundle before serving.
Catalan Chickpea & Chorizo Stew with Spinach
February 2, 2011
Aunt Suzy says . . .
The cold weather continues to drive us to make warming soups and stews. This flavorful stew is easy to make – even when cooking the beans from dried vs. opening cans. The basis for this stew is sofrito, a savory tomato base used in many Spanish dishes. It’s also at the foundation of a lot of Caribbean cooking, but it means something very different there. It makes me think I need to make a great Puerto Rican chicken dish I learned years ago using sofrito . . . but I digress! This is a beautiful-to-look-at dish as well as tasty. The original recipe was from a Food & Wine article on Familia Torres, a Catalan wine maker. Today we served this stew with their Sangre de Toro wine, one of my favorite inexpensive reds – delish! We loved the Arugula-Mint Salad from Sunday’s dinner so much that we’re having it again. It’s the perfect, refreshing foil for a rich stew.
2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked and drained
1/4 cup EV olive oil
1 onion, small dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, reserving 1 cup of the juice
3 soft Spanish chorizo sausages, split lengthwise then sliced in 1/4-inch half moons
1/2 pound baby spinach, tough stems removed
Prepare the chickpeas: Place soaked beans in a pot with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer till done, about 2 hours. Drain the chickpeas, reserving 2 cups of the cooking water. Set aside both the cooked beans and the water. This can be done a day or two ahead of making the stew.
Prepare the stew: Place the olive oil in a Dutch oven and heat to medium high. Add the onion, rosemary and the bay leaf and saute, stirring constantly until soft. Add the garlic and stir for a minute or two until fragrant. Add the drained tomatoes, bring to a sizzle and cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes. Add the 3 cups total liquid (1 cup tomato juice and 2 cups bean cooking liquid), the cooked beans and the chorizo. Stir to blend, bring back to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. This can also be done a day or two ahead. The final step is to add the spinach, in 3 batches, stirring after each to blend. Simmer for about 10 minutes to wilt the spinach, but be careful that it doesn’t disintegrate from overcooking.
NOTES ON INGREDIENTS AND AMOUNTS: The dried chickpeas added up to 5 1/2 cups cooked. If you want to use canned chickpeas, you will need 3-4 15-ounce cans, drained and rinsed. If using canned, I recommend using 2 cups chicken stock in place of the bean cooking liquid. Make sure you are using (soft vs. dried) Spanish-style chorizo vs. Mexican. Spanish is fully cooked and Mexican is fresh. I used Chicken Chorizo from Trader Joe’s. The original recipe called for a pound of spinach, but I think this is a lot – use your judgment!
Sweet & Savory Kitchens 