A Cassoulet-Style Soup and a Podcast You'll Enjoy

Plus, the Bread Machine Book is out!

Hi everyone, I’ve got a bit of a grab bag for you today, things I’ve been wanting/needing to share. Feel free to scroll ahead to whatever interests you most.

• The Bread Machine Book is out, and this is your last chance to win a Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker and many other fun goodies

• I’m highlighting the terrific What You’re Eating podcast in a Q&A with Jerusha Klemperer

• And I’ve got a really wonderful, pretty hands-off, cassoulet-style soup, which is to say we’re cooking the dried beans along with all the other ingredients, rather than in a separate pot

---

I’m almost done yapping about this, but because it is a significant prize, and generously facilitated by businesses I love, this is my final reminder: If you have ordered (or are considering ordering) my new book The Bread Machine Book, you’ve got until the end of the weekend to enter your order details here for a chance to win our sweepstakes prize, which includes:

• Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus Breadmaker ($400 value)

• Material Kitchen 6-inch Serrated Knife ($65 value)

• Victoria Grain Grinder ($60 value)

• Barton Springs Mill Grain Medley ($26 value)

• 1-year paid subscription to my Substack newsletter ($60 value)

And while we’re talking about the Bread Machine Book, which went on sale this week, I got to chat with Matt Rodbard about it for the wonderful Taste podcast.

---

Podcast Spotlight: What You’re Eating

In case it’s not on your radar, What You’re Eating is a podcast that I always enjoy and learn something from. I know that many of you share my interest in food as part of a bigger picture, which intersects with history, politics, environmental issues, and more, and I’ve really appreciated this podcast for its depth and focus. The host Jerusha Klemperer, director of FoodPrint.org, has graciously answered a few questions about her work making it.

What makes for a relevant topic on What You’re Eating?

Sometimes it's about looking at foods that are super popular, but have real problems in the way they are typically produced. What do we at FoodPrint wish people knew about these foods? And what do we think they'd do differently if they knew? So, we started with rotisserie chicken (well, cheap chicken); we covered chocolate and coffee; and we tackled shrimp, which is the number one most popular seafood in this country — one that has a problematic supply chain that often includes enslaved labor and, when farmed, can have terrible environmental impacts.

How have your podcast conversations changed your own behavior as a cook and food consumer?

My work at FoodPrint, both before making the podcast and since, has deeply impacted how I shop, cook and eat. Vis-a-vis that shrimp episode, I only eat shrimp if I can find wild, domestic shrimp, which isn't often. Another example: I am a long time on-again off-again vegetarian. Ever since I did an episode last spring on veal, foie gras and octopus and spent hours talking to brilliant animal rights lawyers and animal welfare experts, I am mostly on-again.

Can you share a few learnings/factoids that have really stuck with you?

I have learned so much from talking to all of these brilliant people! I loved learning about oysters and their positive ecological benefits (also shucking and eating them fresh out of the water in California wasn't bad). Another episode we recorded onsite in Maine will stick with me forever: talking to farmers who lost their farms due to the discovery of PFAS ("forever chemicals") in their soil. When we treat the earth as a dumping ground for chemicals, the impacts are far-reaching and devastating.

How does being a project of a foundation inform the FoodPrint project?

Our project is mission-driven, not profit-driven, and that liberates us not to be beholden to advertisers, for example. And to be critical of agribusiness and the corporate food system, without needing to take sponsorships from Bayer-Monsanto, say. We have a point of view and aren't shy about sharing it.

You cover a lot of the unsettling side of the food industry. What gives you optimism right now?

Truthfully, right now is a very hard time to be optimistic. This is a question I ask many of my guests: “can you give me some hope please?” I do find it very hopeful that there are brilliant activists, lawyers, scientists, chefs, farmers and journalists working on all of the most pressing issues in our food system and beyond. They are fighting for animals and workers, they are resisting the status quo and, even when it's hard to do so, creating beautiful products and meaningful campaigns and vital research.

Thank you, Jerusha! Head here for more information and to explore the library of What You’re Eating podcast episodes:

---

A Long, Slow Soup of Bitters, Beans, and Butternut Squash

If you know my Baked White Beans and Chicories from Start Simple, of even if you’ve made any of my bean soups over the years, you know that I have kind of an annoying process if dried beans are involved. There are two steps, first cooking your beans (which captures the flavorful broth), and then incorporating them (with said broth) into the soup, once you’ve cooked down your aromatics and whatever else.

I do this so that it’s easy to swap in canned beans if that’s your preference, and also because it allows more control when it comes to texture. Beans can take anywhere from 30 minutes to cook, or up to two and a half hours. And if all your other soup components are cooking, too, they’ll turn to mush while the beans crawl to tenderness.

However, if the complimentary ingredients can benefit from a long cook and melt away into the broth, then… why not just embrace a cassoulet style soup? This, anyhow, is how I’m thinking of today’s recipe, which combines one of my favorite cold weather ingredients, chicories, with another all-the-time favorite ingredient, beans. They melt into the soup, their bitterness softening into a glorious, mellow sweetness. I’ve also got butternut squash chunks in here, which add sweet, silky lusciousness to the broth.

While we wait for the weather to warm up, it’s a perfect slow-cooking, high-yield soup to savor and stash away.

Chicory & Bean Soup with Butternut Squash

• I’ve made this with chickpeas, black beans, and red beans. They all work, lending slightly different flavors (and colors). They also all have different cooking times.

• The recipe benefits from using beans that have soaked overnight. This will help speed along some of the cooking.

• I haven’t tried it but I imagine this being a very easy one to make in the Instant pot, either pressure cooked or slow cooked — for those who are adept with theirs.

• If you have a lingering Parmesan rind, add that to the soup along with the beans and water.

• I like the No-Chicken Better than Bullion base in here. Alternatively, instead of water in step 2, use vegetable broth.

Yield 8 servings | Prep time 20 minutes | Cook time About an hour

¼ cup olive oil, plus more for garnish
1 medium onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon dried chili flakes
1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt, divided
1 medium butternut squash (1 to 1 ½ pounds), peeled, seeded, and cubed
4 to 6 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons apple cider or wine vinegar
8 ounces dried beans, soaked in plenty of water overnight, and drained
1 tablespoon bouillon paste (optional)
1 head escarole, chopped and well washed
1 small head radicchio, chopped
Chopped parsley, chives, or dill, for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish
Freshly grated parmesan, for garnish (optional)

1. Set a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and once it’s hot, swirl in the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, bay leaves, chili flakes, and ½ teaspoon salt, and cook until they soften and begin to brown, 7 to 10 minutes.

2. Stir in the squash, garlic, and tomato paste, and cook until the tomato paste darkens a shade and the garlic begins to brown, another 7 to 10 minutes. Deglaze with the vinegar, then add the beans and enough water to cover them (usually between 4 and 5 cups), the bouillon, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot partially, and cook, stirring every now and then, until the beans are nearing tenderness, 30 to 45 minutes.

3. Pile the escarole and radicchio into the pot and cover it, without stirring, letting them wilt and collapse for about 5 minutes. Then stir them into the soup and continue cooking until the beans are fully tender, another 15 to 30 minutes, or more. If the soup seems too thick, add more water, and taste for salt, adding more as needed.

4. Serve hot, with garnishes of choice, as well as a good drizzle of olive oil.

Recipe: Chicory & Bean Soup with Butternut Squash

85KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download