Monastery Soup

Like many friends and family, I’ve been working lately at how best to cook from my pantry stores. Almost serendipitously, I ran across a recipe for Monastery Soup while reading Caroline Eden’s latest book Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes Through Darkness and Light. Before I even looked at the list of ingredients, I felt a calming sensation—just from the name of the soup. It sounded like something serene, yet able to provide a sense of community. And the items that I needed to make it were all in my pantry, ready to cook.

Caroline Eden weaves together history, travel, and food exploration in Black Sea as she moves through the different countries that border this huge body of water. In a recent interview Eden explained, “Food — in restaurants, in markets and in home kitchens — unlocks a culture… and the recipes included are intended to enrich the stories within the book, offering another physical dimension to the travel writing.”

Eden’s travels take her to various sites in Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey that touch the Black Sea. The reader discovers that food doesn’t recognize political borders, yet reflects the history and influences that a region has felt through the ages.

The Recipe’s Origins

Eden explains that Monastery Soup is a name given to a variety of simple bean (bobena) soups in Bulgaria. Because many are meatless, they are a perfect food for the Lenten season. Beans are an important staple in the Bulgarian larder. Eden writes that “large earthenware pots” are the traditional Bulgarian way to cook beans. I used my trusty Dutch oven.

I’ve been cooking with beans at least once a week in recent months, both because we love their taste and because they’re a healthy source of protein. This soup calls for two kinds of canned beans, but is really flexible about the type of bean used.

Most of the other ingredients are pantry staples, so it’s a great dish to turn to when creating meals from what you have on hand.

Making the Soup

The variety of colors and shapes of the soup ingredients also appeals to me. There are cubes of pale onions and parsnips, bright yellow bell pepper bits, and orange coins of carrots that build the flavor base for the dish.

Later white navy beans and maroon kidney beans go in with some vegetable stock.

I adapted Eden’s recipe a bit, sautéing the chopped onions for a while before adding the other chopped vegetables. I also increased the amount of garlic and sweet paprika.

Finally, I used more stock than she had called for and found the consistency just right.

The soup is ready in under an hour, brimming with the flavors of root vegetables, bright peppers, and paprika.

The addition of a squeeze of lemon juice along with chopped fresh mint and parsley right before serving brings a fresh note to each spoonful.

The soup can keep for several days in the refrigerator and makes a filling, but healthy meal.

As its simple name Monastery Soup implies, the components are not fancy, but they are tasty.

Monastery Soup

Dawn Dobie

A satisfying vegetarian soup easy to make with pantry staples.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

For the soup

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 large yellow or red bell pepper seeds and membranes removed, finely chopped
• 1 parsnip peeled and finely diced
• 2 carrots peeled and cut into 1/4-inch rounds
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• pinch dried chili flakes
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 4 cups vegetable stock (low sodium, if possible)
• 15.5 ounce can of navy beans drained and rinsed
• 15.5 ounce can of kidney beans drained and rinsed
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

• fresh lemon wedges
• Roughly chopped fresh parsley and mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraîche optional

Instructions

 

For the soup

• Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy pan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook for about five minutes, then add the bell pepper, parsnip, and carrots along with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is translucent and all vegetables are somewhat softened, about 7 minutes.
• Add the paprika, chili flakes, garlic, and some freshly ground black pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the spices and garlic are fragrant. Add the stock and stir. Add the beans and bring mixture to a boil. Once the liquid boils, reduce the heat to simmer and cook the soup for about 20 minutes, or until the parsnips and carrots are cooked through.

To serve

• Remove from the heat and ladle into bowls. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over each bowl and stir to combine. Top with a shower of fresh herbs, a bit of olive oil, and if you wish, the sour cream or crème fraîche.

Notes

The soup can be be made up to three days ahead of time.  Cool, cover and refrigerate until ready to reheat.  Wait until serving to add the lemon juice, fresh herbs, and swirl of olive oil.

Adapted from a recipe by Caroline Eden in Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes – Through Darkness and Light.