I just finished a wonderful lunch of left over navy bean soup that was whipped up yesterday and I'm still nibbling on the sweet and juicy pear from our last CSA box from Full Circle Farm.
And I'm mentally jumping for joy to hear that my sister in-law and brother in-law are signing up for a share from Full Circle Farm as well!
All this thinking about CSAs has me eagerly awaiting tomorrow's box. I've been dreaming up what I will do with all that delicious produce since I finalized my selections this weekend. I'm especially excited about getting a double order of eggplant this week - completely out of season, but something I've been craving for a few weeks now. I want to make the simple oven roasted eggplant with anchovy that I found in my mother in-law's Silver Spoon cookbook and I want to try my hands at a recipe I came across online for eggplant "bacon" that gets marinated and then put on the dehydrator for a while. It sounds very intriguing. If I'm lucky enough to have any eggplant left (doubtful) I might make up a batch of Baba Ganoush to go with the Chipotle Garlic Hummus recipe I'm planning on making. I found that recipe in the Tassajara Cookbook I've got checked out from the library (I really want a copy of this one for my collections!). That would give us some good picnic foods for the weekend. Something to take along for our outing to the Seattle Tilth Spring Plant Sale that we are going to with some friends.
For tonight though I'm roasting up some parsnips and cabbage for a veggie St. Patrick's Day dinner. Yum!
Here's the Simple Navy Bean Soup recipe:
In the morning:
2 cups dry small white navy beans
8 cups water
1 Bay or Myrtle Leaf
Put all of the above in a slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on low setting.
When it's getting closer to dinner time:
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 tsp earth balance or butter or olive oil
Saute all of the above in a large stock pot till slightly softened. Add the beans and their broth, discarding the bay leaf. Add smoked sea salt to taste (that's my secret ingredient!). Bring to a simmer to blend flavors. Right before serving stir in a 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley.
We served this with garlic bread - the perfect thing to sop up the last of the bean broth in your bowl. This soup tastes even better the next day!
