Greek bean soup – Fassolada

Ingredients for 10 servings:

• 2 cups olive oil
• 1 stalk(s) leek
• 2 large onions
• 2 carrots
• 1 celery
• 800 g beans, white, dried
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 2 tbsp salt, coarse
• ½ tsp chili pepper(s), dried, or 1 small fresh, or pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours 30 minutes

Soak the beans in cold water the night before. The next day, discard any hollow beans that float to the top. Bring the beans to a boil in the soaking water. Then drain the beans in a sieve. Trim and wash the vegetables. Cut the leeks into rings, slice the carrots, and finely chop the celery and onions. Set aside 1 onion. Meanwhile, heat fresh water in a large pot. Add the olive oil, vegetables, 1 onion, and beans to the pot. Small beans (approx. 1 cm) need 1.5–2 hours to cook, large beans (approx. 2 cm) need 2.5–3 hours. Shortly before the end of the cooking time, sauté the remaining onion in a little olive oil. Add the tomato paste. Gradually add some of the stock from the pot to the pan and simmer until thickened. Only now add salt, pepper or chili powder, and the chopped parsley and simmer briefly. Return everything to the pot and season to taste. Tip: Alternatively, you can use a sufficiently large pressure cooker. This reduces the cooking time to 30-45 minutes.