Basque Lamb And Bean Soup Recipes

WHITE BEAN AND LAMB SOUP

Steps:

• Soak the dried beans in water overnight. After soaking, drain off remaining water, and rinse.
• In a large stockpot, cook the onion in oil over low heat until just beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Increase the heat to medium, and add lamb; cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in carrots and celery, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, and season with parsley, thyme, oregano, and with freshly ground pepper and salt to taste. Add beans and broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, boil for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, for 1/1/2 hours, or until beans are tender.
• Rinse spinach, and then place in a saucepan. Place over medium heat, and cook until wilted. This will only take a short time, and you will not need to add more liquid to the pan.
• Top each serving of soup with wilted spinach and crumbled feta cheese.

BASQUE LAMB SHANKS

Steps:

• Brown the shanks in a Dutch oven in 2 tbsp oil, remove shanks.
• Add 4 cloves of garlic and the mushrooms, brown well.
• Return shanks to the pot, add wine and the broth.
• Cook covered, in a 350F oven for about 2 hours (add more broth if needed) until the meat falls off the bone.
• Meanwhile prepare your beans, if starting from scratch boil the beans with 4 cloves of garlic until they are tender, if using canned bring them to a boil with the garlic and let them steep.
• Remove the garlic from the beans.
• Remove bones from the shanks.
• Add beans to the meat and heat through.
• Meanwhile prepare the sauce combining 4 cloves of minced garlic,salad oil, parsley and vineger, You may warm the sauce or have it at room temp.
• Serve the sauce on the side.

WOOL GROWERS BASQUE BEANS

Steps:

• Sort and wash the beans,, then place them in a small, heavy-bottom pot. Add enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches,. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, loosely covered, until the beans are tender, 1 l/2 to 2 hours. Stir the beans occasionally and check the water level, adding additonal water as needed to keep the beans moist as they cook. While the beans are cooking, cook the salt pork in a frying pan until the fat is rendered and the pork is cooked, 6 to 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove and reserve the salt pork,leaving the fat in the pan. Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pan and cook over gentle heat until the onion is translucent, stirring occasionally, 4 to 6 minutes. When the beans are tender, stir in the cooked salt pork, onions, garlic, parsley, tomato sauce, thyme, and red pepper flakes. Taste and add 1-1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 half teaspoon pepper or to taste.Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook a few minutes to marry the flavors. This makes about 1-1/2 quarts beans, which will keep covered and refrigerated up to 1 week. The flavors will improve with time.

BASQUE LAMB AND BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• 1. Soak the beans 4 hours or overnight in water to cover; drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a large stockpot, then add the onions and lamb shanks and saute for 10 minutes over low heat, or until the shanks are nicely browned on all sides. Add the garlic for the last minute or so of browning. 2. Add the drained beans, water, tomatoes, bay leaf, parsley, thyme, cloves, and peppercorns; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 2 1/2 hours. 3. Remove the shanks, bay leaves, cloves and peppercorns from the soup. Chop the meat and return it to the soup. Add salt to taste.