Green bean soup from Transylvania – Ciorba de fasole verde

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 100 g bacon cubes
• 2 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 carrot(s)
• 50 g leek
• 50 g celery
• 600 g beans (chopped beans), green or yellow
• 300 g potatoes
• 4 tsp vegetable stock powder or Vegeta
• 2 liters of water
• 1 tsp savory
• 250 g meat leftovers (roast leftovers)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated
• ½ tsp paprika powder
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 4 tbsp vinegar
• 1 tbsp, heaped cream or crème fraîche
• 10 g butter
• 10 g flour
• 100 ml milk

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 10 minutes

Fry the diced bacon in a pan and fry. Roughly dice the onions and finely dice the garlic, then add both and sauté. I also add the bacon rind, which I fish out at the end before serving. Slice the carrot and leek, dice the celery, add everything, and sauté for another 5 minutes. Wash, peel, and roughly dice the potatoes, add them, and top up with 2 liters of water. Add Vegeta or vegetable stock and cook for another 15 minutes. Then add the beans, savory, and diced meat and cook for another 10 minutes. Season with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and paprika. Since there is bacon in the soup, be careful with the salt at first and check everything is salty at the end. In a second pan, make a light béchamel sauce with butter, flour, and milk. To do this, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and add the flour. Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, but do not let it brown. Gradually add the cold milk, stirring vigorously, and simmer for 5 minutes, until everything has a creamy consistency. Season the béchamel sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour the béchamel sauce into the soup. Finally, add the parsley, vinegar, and cream, and season again. Note: This is a recipe from my mother-in-law from Transylvania. It’s a midweek meal for using up various roast leftovers from the weekend. I once had a restaurant pack up the leftovers of a pork knuckle with the rind and bone and used them in this soup. It was brilliant. Basically, though, it’s a bean soup with meat. Use whatever vegetables you want to use for the soup and whatever meat you have leftover. With smoked pork, be careful with the salt when seasoning. You can also add a few chopped tomatoes right at the beginning of the stew, then add a little less vinegar at the end for added acidity. Vary it up, have fun cooking, and use everything; don’t throw anything away.