Since it’s a little cooler this weekend, it’s definitely soup time again. As a means of recalling which combination of veggies, mostly, I’ve used to make this soup, I’ll just string some pictures in the sequence of use, adding a comment here or there.

The sweet potatoes were Honduran, while all the other veggies, as well as the bacon, were French-born.

Here we have the line-up of ingredients and the prep waste. Clockwise from top left: leeks and the thick ends of the carrots, some elderly potatoes, and the sweet potatoes [in cold water], olive oil, carrots and cubed celery root, garbage in a bio-degradable pseudo-plastic bag [merchants are no longer allowed to use actual plastic bags in our community. We don’t have a garden, so we can’t compost], bacon, seasonings, chopped garlic, and chopped onion.

The bacon is the first candidate to jump into the hot olive oil, closely followed by onions and garlic to be gently sautéed.

Next up are the celery and carrot pieces to be browned for a little while with the onion base, before I turn up the heat just so that I can dampen it with a splash of red Bordeaux, scraping up any brown bits, stirring vigorously before turning down the heat again. Now it’s time to add the secret ingredient I prepared earlier, Haricot Tarbais, white runner beans from Tarbes, Hautes-Pyrénées. This is the type of bean I usually use for my cassoulet.

Truth be told, these particular beans were leftovers from the 2016 harvest and I’ve used them a few time as weights to “blind-bake” dough. Nevertheless, they are Tarbais beans and as such, even pre-owned, cook to a perfect al dente and are exceptionally flavorful.

All that’s left to do now is adding the remaining fresh ingredients, the seasoning, and water.

Maille brand balsamic vinegar syrup adds sweetness

I’m lazy, so commercial bouillon work just fine for me

In addition to freshly grated nutmeg, I used ground coriander seeds and powdered ginger

Water as needed, about 750 ml

And 30 – 45 minutes later, we’re ready to slurp!

Ingredients:

• 100 g of poitrine fumée [smoked pork belly], diced
• 2 skinny leeks, sliced into 2 to 3 cm rings, white and light green parts only
• 4 carrots, cut into triangular pieces
• half a celery root, peeled, brown parts cut off then roughly diced
• a few peeled potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
• ditto for sweet potatoes
• 3 large, fresh cloves of garlic – not the dried out Chinese crap!
• 2 small yellow onion, diced, more is great
• 1 cube of court-bouillon, 1 unit of chicken bouillon [if I were in the US, I would use a quart of chicken broth instead. I loved the convenience of broth in handy tetra packs. Unfortunately, they’re not available here]
• nutmeg, ground coriander seeds, powdered ginger [or fresh, of course], salt if desired
• a little red wine, a little Velours Balsamique [thick syrup of balsamic vinegar]
• enough hot water to comfortably cook the veggies at hand

Note to self: next time, double the amount of sweet potato and use goose fat instead of olive oil.