You may need up to 1 teaspoon salt depending on your protein. I advise making the recipe without salt and salting to taste at the very end. Salt: ham can be VERY salty so I have not included salt in the recipe BUT everything needs salt to taste flavorful. I don’t think the red pepper flakes make the soup spicy, but you can add to taste. The smoked paprika also ads a little smokiness. Spices: We add smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, pepper and dried mustard to enliven the soup with their kickin’ flavors. Please don’t skip the fennel – it is one of my favorite flavors of this Ham and Bean Soup! The fennel imparts a subtle sweet, bright, herby, slightly tangy flavor. After all, we are going for the BEST Navy Bean Soup here!įor the rich, multi-dimensional flavor, we need help from aromatic, spices, and herbs.Īromatics: onions, garlic and fennel sweat together to create a complex flavor base. Navy Bean Soup needs seasonings to come alive and to not taste like salty, one note soup. If you can’t find fire roasted diced tomatoes, than traditional diced tomatoes work just fine. This gives them a delightful smokiness and more complex, less tangy flavor than traditional diced tomatoes. Fire roasted diced tomatoes: I get this question all the time so let me assure you that fire roasted tomatoes are NOT spicy – the fire simply means they have been roasted.You may use vegetable broth as well but chicken broth has more flavor.
Chicken broth: please use REDUCED SODIUM chicken broth or your soup will be way too salty if you choose to add ham.Yukon gold potatoes are waxy potatoes so they retain their shape and don’t fall apart when cooked for prolonged periods of time as opposed to Russet potatoes that will fall apart and become mealy tasting when overcooked. Potatoes: I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes for this Navy Bean Soup for their soft, buttery flavor.You can purchase pre-chopped carrots and celery if you would like to save time or chop them beforehand. Celery and carrots: you will want to chop your celery and carrots into about 1/4-1/2″ pieces.You will purchase the whole fennel but we are going to use just the bulb, so chop off the fennel stalks at their base where they join the bulb. Your should be able to find it in the produce section of your grocery store, if not, specialty produce stores such as Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc.
If you’ve never cooked with fennel, please don’t be intimidated. Fennel: I am a huge fennel fan and love it in this Navy Bean Soup.Garlic: use more or less depending on your garlic love.Onion: one large yellow onion will do the trick!.If you skip the bacon, you will want to use 2 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons olive oil or a combination to sauté the vegetables in. But then again, bacon makes everything better! You will also use the bacon grease for its fabulous flavor instead of butter or olive oil. I added bacon because I used chicken this particular go around, but you can skip it if you choose to use ham. Bacon: use thick cut bacon for its meaty texture.If using chicken breasts or thighs, add the pieces whole and let them simmer in the soup until tender then remove to a plate to shred.
I usually use shredded rotisserie chicken but you can also use 1 pound uncooked chicken breasts or thighs.
0 kommentar(er)
