Ceci and Kale Soup

This was the first time I’ve used ceci in soup and it was only because I had dried garbanzo beans in the pantry. I don’t even know why I bought them, since I’m satisfied with canned ceci, but there they were, in abundance, and I needed to use them, so I could reclaim some drawer space.

 

Ingredients:

3C cooked garbanzo beans 1 large yellow onion 3 strips bacon 3 large garlic cloves 2 porcini bouillon cubes 1/4t powdered bay leaves 1T crushed dried thyme 3C kale

Directions:

I never really measured the garbanzo beans, since I was in a hurry to get them soaking, but I think there were 1 1/2 – 2 cups of dried beans. After overnight soaking and rinsing, I cooked them over a medium low heat until they were tender, then rinsed again and put them back in the pot to cook, covered by 2” of water. For flavoring I added 2 porcini bouillon cubes that could easily have been substituted with chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon. While they were cooking I chopped the bacon and onions, sauteed them and added the chopped garlic. I also added the powdered bay leaves.

    

When the bacon was mildly cooked, but not crisp, I added chopped kale into the pan over a medium high heat and sauteed the kale. An immersion blender was the perfect tool for this soup because after I removed a cup of the ceci, I pureed the rest into a creamy base. Afterwards the kale and ceci were added back into the pot to simmer for another 20 minutes. this turned out to be a very good idea.