Soay Bean Soup
An easy, tasty bean soup flavored with Soay or other mild-flavored sheep bones
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry pinto beans
- 1 large or 3-4 small lamb bones, either raw with meat still on them, or the cooked
bone left over from a leg roast feast.
- 1 medium or large onion, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 big carrot, chopped, or several mini-carrots cut in half
- 2 tsp herbs de Provence
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 bay leaf
- black pepper to taste
- 1 or 2 cups broth - chicken, turkey, or beef
Directions
- Soak the beans overnight
- The next morning, drain the beans, pick out any stray pebbles, and put beans in Crockpot or other slow cooker
- Add all the other ingredients to the Crockpot
- Fill to about 2/3 full with water, then stir. The beans will expand so don't fill the pot too full at first.
- Cook on low setting for at least 8 hours, preferably not more than 10 hours or beans will get too mushy
- Shortly before eating, take the bay leaf out
- Take the bones and any fallen-off pieces of meat out of the pot, put on a plate or a bowl to cool a bit
- Optional: If you want thick soup, either put an immersion blender in and blend until enough soup gets mushy to thicken the whole pot, or take 2 cups of bean-laden soup out, put it in a blender, then return to pot
- Take all morsels of meat off bones, return meat to pot and stir
- Check seasonings
The mild flavor of pinto beans goes well with the mild flavor of Soay sheep meat. I plan to try several different kinds of beans and customize the recipe for varying bean flavors.
If you are using a conventional soup pot on the stovetop, use the lowest possible setting and cook for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally.
The marrow in raw bones, if they are cut crosswise, provides some thickening. Cooked bones, e.g., the bone left over from eating a fancy leg of lamb dinner, will not provide thickening but will impart whatever seasonings were used with the leg of lamb, and also the lovely browned bits of fat and skin will add more flavor.
The single vegetables in this recipe are for flavor. More vegetables could be added, turning the dish into a vegetable and bean soup. For example, add a cup of frozen peas and a cup of frozen corn shortly before dinner, switch to the "high" setting on the Crockpot, and a few minutes later the soup will be ready.
If you do not have a jar of herbs de Provence on the shelf, substitute any or all of thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, or marjoram. Sage is a bit strong for this dish.
Bon appétit!