Simple Bean Soup from El Bulli (world's all time greatest restaurant!)
Recipe video above. This Bean Soup comes to you from El Bulli restaurant, famed in its time for topping the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list, year after year. But fear not! This is not a complex Michelin star dish. It’s a simple bean soup from the El Bulli staff cookbook, "The Family Meal".If this tasty little number is good enough for the folks behind this world class restaurant, it’s good enough for the rest of us!Don't skip the Picada. It totally makes it.
Saute onion and herbs 8 minutes: Heat oil in a large heavy based pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, herbs and cook, stirring regularly, for 8 minutes until the onions are a deep golden brown and sweet.
Cook tomato passata 8 minutes: Add tomato passata and cook over low heat for another 8 minutes until the tomato changes from red and watery to dark brown a d very thick. Don't skimp on this step, it's key for flavour!
Simmer: Stir in the beans followed by the vegetable stock. Adjust heat so it's bubbling very gently and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid off.
Blitz: Transfer 2/3 cup (150ml) of soup into a jug or jar large enough to fit the head of a blender stick. Blitz until smooth then stir it back into the soup to thicken the broth.
Stir in Picada: Just before serving, stir in 2 tablespoons of Picada. Taste and add more salt if needed (canned beans differ in salt). Then serve immediately.
Serve: Dollop each bowl with 1 teaspoon of remaining Picada. Crusty bread highly recommended (easy Artisan, no yeast bread or French brioche).
Picada:
Toast hazelnuts: Preheat a small skillet over medium heat. Add hazelnuts and toast, shaking the skillet regularly, until there are golden patches and they smell nutty.
Remove most skin: Transfer hazelnuts to a clean tea towel. Bundle up and rub vigorously with hands to remove most of the skin (which is bitter). (No need to do this with almonds)
Blitz: Roughly chop hazelnuts then add into a jug just large enough to fit the head of a stick blender with remaining ingredients. Blitz until it's like pesto - not completely smooth. Use per recipe.
Notes
1. Passata – This is pureed, strained tomatoes, sometimes labelled Tomato Puree in the US. It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. It is smooth and thick rather than chunky like canned tomato. See here for more information on passata.2. Beans - any white beans will work great here. Navy beans, lima, butter beans. Other colour beans (kidney beans, pinto, black beans etc) will work just fine but the colour of the soup broth may be a bit different (from pureeing a bit into the soup).The original recipe uses dried beans. I opted for canned so I (you!) can make it right now. But it is even tastier with dried beans - see below.DRIED BEANS (navy, cannellini or other white beans) - you will need 2 1/2 cups of any dried white beans.
1 can = 1 3/4 cups beans once drained
Recipe calls for 4 cans = 7 cups beans
1 cup dried beans = 2 3/4 cups cooked
So you will need 2.5 cups dried beans (2.5 x 2.75 = 7 cups cooked beans)
HOW TO COOK DRIED BEANS - soak in plenty of water (beans will triple in volume) 5 - 24 hrs. Drain bring to boil then gently simmer in a large pot of water with 1 tbsp salt* partially covered with a lid. The cooking time will vary wildly depending not just on size/type of beans, but also the age of beans. Fresh dried cannellini beans, 24 hr soak = 25 minute cook. Old large lima beans could take over 2 hours.Start checking at 25 minutes, and the closer they are to being ready, check every few minutes. They are ready when they're almost tender all the way through, they will finish cooking in the soup.SALT - If using large dried beans, add partway through cooking. If using smaller beans (like cannellini) just add at the start (it won't make them tough or increase cook time).3. Stock - Stock quality is one of the key things that distinguishes home cooking from restaurant cooking. Vegetable stock is a cinch to make, so I really urge you to consider making your own homemade Vegetable Stock.4. Table salt is much finer grains than cooking/kosher salt so you will need less. There's not much salt required in this recipe because canned beans have salt in them. If using dried beans, you will need more - follow recipe to taste and adjust at the end.5. Recipe source: "The Family Meal" by El Bulli restaurant. The original recipe includes clams. I left it out because I was after a vegetarian bean soup, and it's still incredibly delicious without.Clam version: If you feel that you are ready for the full El Bulli experience by adding clams, here's how:
Soak clams for 1 hour as this will help the clams to purge themselves of any sand.
Remove from the water and add them to the soup 5 minutes before the end.
If clams aren’t available, use mussels instead. 😊
6. Storage - Cooked soup keeps for 4 days though the Picada stirred into the soup does lose the green colour which is no big deal! The fresh picada used for topping the beans shouldn't be kept for longer than 2 days because of the raw garlic - any leftover at the end of 2 days best to stir in.7. Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings. It's filling - beans are filling, and they keep you full!