Fava Bean & Greens Soup with Ciabatta Croutons

In the summertime, I tend to flit about like the ants in the proverb of the ants and the grasshopper, making sure that I have enough "put up" for winter. These past few weeks I've been canning jam (strawberry, triple berry, banana-rum, and today, sour cherry.) Tomorrow, I'll be making mulberry jelly, which is a new recipe, since I came across a glut of mulberries yesterday at the cherry picking farm.

This soup is easily created from a few pantry items, some spring greens, and some mushrooms. The ciabatta croutons add a nice crunch to the soup, should you feel you need a bit more substance. Dried fava beans can be found in larger grocery stores with the dry beans, or by mail order. Feel free to substitute cannellini beans or white kidney beans, just don't worry about peeling them first.

Fava Bean & Greens Soup

1 lb dry fava beans, picked through and rinsed, soaked overnight, and peeled

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1/4 cup finely minced carrot

1/4 cup finely minced celery

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary, divided

2 Tbsp. minced fresh sage, divided

1 tsp. each salt and ground black pepper, plus more to taste

1 cup diced shiitake mushroom

32 oz vegetable or chicken stock

32 oz water

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 cups chopped swiss chard, collard greens, beet greens,or turnip greens, main stem removed

Garnish: Ciabatta croutons, recipe follows

In a 6-qt stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until onion is translucent; about 5 minutes. Add garlic and 1 Tbsp each of the rosemary and sage, and 1 tsp each of the salt and pepper. Saute until the garlic is fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add shiitake mushrooms and turn heat to medium-high. Saute the mixture until the mushrooms start to brown; about 5 minutes. Add stock, water, and beans to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender and begin to fall apart. Turn off heat and allow soup to cool to room temperature.

Using a blender, puree the soup until a smooth consistency is achieved. Return soup to pot and bring to just boiing. Add greens, remaining rosemary and sage, and stir to combine. Cook until greens are tender; about 5 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: About four 2 1/2 cup servings

Ciabatta Croutons

Ciabatta bread, about three slices, each one-inch thick

2 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan or romano cheese

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, sliced in half

Preheat oven to 400*F. Rub the slices of bread with the garlic. Slice the bread into one inch cubes to yield 2 cups or so. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and cheese, tossing to coat. Bake cubes for 15 minutes, or until well toasted. Yield: Four 1/2 cup servings

Pommes d'amour

If the only tomato soup you've ever had coincidentally was also the subject of an Andy Warhol piece of artwork, you, my dear friend, are missing out. Fresh tomato soup is like a bowl of sunshine in the dead of winter. It reminds you that in the midst of all of the cold and grey and sharp wind there is an oasis of warmth. You can close your eyes and remember being on the patio listening to the birds chirp, bees humming, the explosion of color all around.

This is liquid hope.

Tomato Soup

(yields about 5 quarts)

12 1/2 lb ripe tomatoes. I use a mixture of whatever I have, usually beefsteak, plum tomatoes, and my mom's yellow tomatoes

half a bunch of celery (about 7 stalks), washed, ends trimmed and chopped into 1/2 inch pieces. If you're up to it, peel the long fibrous strings off.

6 medium-sized onions, chopped

1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems removed

2 cups water

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. salt

1 Tbsp. ground black pepper

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. cayenne pepper sauce (ie. Frank's Red Hot), or more, depending on personal preference.

Core, seed, and chop the tomatoes and place them in a 10-qt stock pot. Bring the tomatoes, water, celery, onion, lemon juice, cloves, and parsley to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until the celery is tender, about 20 minutes. Skim off any foam that has formed. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, puree in a blender or food processor in small batches until all of the soup has been pureed. Return to stock pot and bring to a boil once again. Add 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, pepper, and cayenne sauce, stirring until sugar completely dissolves. In a small saucepan, melt the butter completely. Whisk the flour into the butter, cooking over medium heat for one minute (roux). Add to the soup mixture, stirring until all of the roux is incorporated into the soup, and the soup has slightly thickened. Taste and add more sugar by the tablespoonful until you reach desired sweetness. Remove soup from heat.

At this point, you can fill hot, sterilized quart jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace, and process them in a hot water bath for 35 minutes. Alternately, you can freeze the cooled soup in plastic freezer bags, or plastic freezer containers; just remove as much air as possible from the freezer containers. It will keep in the freezer for about 6 months... if you can manage not to eat it all by then.

This post has been submitted to September's "Grow Your Own" blog event, hosted by Andrea of http://www.andreasrecipes.com/. Do join us!