Heirloom White Bean and Chard Soup

Sometimes (all day every day) I think I'm much cooler than I actually am. So when I excitedly told Laura that I got heirloom beans, I genuinely expected a response along the lines of "Oooooh! What are those?!" or "Where on earth did you get those?!" Instead, I received a very mundane, unimpressed "From Rancho Gordo?" Because, as Laura pointed out, who else sells heirloom beans?

Still, I was grateful when Laura lent me her Rancho Gordo Heirloom Beans cookbook. Beans - incredibly versatile, incredibly varied. For this adventure, I opted for some hearty soup to warm me up in the impending rainy snow of winter.

This soup is really easy, though it requires the use of a stand or immersion blender. There are really three components at play that will be combined into the final served dish: the bean soup with chard; the croutons; and the poached egg. I've given a primer on poaching eggs before, but I will refresh your memory here.

The beans here come dried and must be soaked for a few hours before they're ready to be cooked. I soaked mine in the morning before I left for work, and by dinner time they were plump and ready to cook. I used half a pound of beans, placed them in a bowl, and covered them with two inches of water. By the time I got home, most of the water had been soaked up and the beans were giant and plump. If you don't have/want to use dried beans, 1 lb of canned white beans will definitely suffice. Just skip the soaking step.

Beans when first added to water.

In the end, I got a hearty vegetarian soup, topped with crispy cheesy croutons (your croutons may vary - choose any bread you like!) and covering a perfectly ooey gooey poached egg. Because honestly, you can add a poached egg to anything and make it better. The only downside here was that this made enough soup for 4-6 people. And by downside I mean I never got tired of these leftovers.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound dried white beans (or 1 lb canned white beans)
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 bunch Rainbow Chard, leaves separated from stems.
• salt
• 6 slices or a loaf of day old hearty bread
• olive oil
• fresh ground pepper
• 4 eggs
• 2 Tbs white vinegar

To Prepare:

1. Soak your dried beans in a large bowl. If using canned beans, skip this step. Pour the beans into the bowl, then add enough water to cover them by 2 inches. Let soak for at least 6 hours, until the beans have nearly doubled in size and are tender.

   

   Beans after a nice, long soak.

2. Cook the beans. Add the beans and their soaking water to a large pot, adding additional water until the beans are covered by an inch of water. If using canned beans, add the beans from the can without rinsing, then add enough water to cover them in the pot by an inch of water.  Add your four garlic cloves. Bring the pot to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to low and slowly cook the beans, uncovered, for 1 hour. Add water to the pot as necessary to keep the beans submerged. Stir gently, occasionally.
   
3. Cook the chard. While your beans cook, prep your chard by tearing the leaves from the stems. Chop the leaves into coarse pieces, about 2 inches across. Take the stems and cut at an angle, thin, to form "matchsticks." Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Starting with the leaves, cook in the boiling water about 3 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a drainer. If using a smaller pot, you can cook these in batches. Once the leaves have all cooked, do the same with the sliced stems. Once everything has cooked and cooled off, squeeze the excess water out of the chard, and set aside on a paper towel-lined plate.
   
   
   
   
4. Bake the croutons.  Still waiting on the beans to finish! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take your hearty, oldish bread and chop or tear it into 1 inch "cubes." In a bowl, toss the cubes with 2 Tbs olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the bread evenly on a baking sheet, and bake until golden and crispy, about 25-30 minutes. 
   
5. Back to the beans! Once the beans have finished cooking and are tender, ladle out about half of the beans into your blender. Add the garlic cloves (if you can find them all) and 1/3 cup of olive oil.  Blend the mixture until smooth, then add it back into the pot of beans.  Add your cooked chard, stir, and add salt and pepper to taste.
   
6. Poach dat egg. Fill a small sauce pan 1/2 full with water. Add 2 Tbs white vinegar. In a separate bowl, crack open one of your eggs. Bring the pot of water to a simmer. Stir the water to make a whirlpool. Very quickly: pour your egg into the center of the whirlpool, cover the pot, and turn off the heat. Set a timer for 3 minutes. After the timer is done, remove the egg with a slotted spoon and place into the soup serving bowl for one person. Repeat the process of simmer-swirl-egg-cover, poaching one egg for each diner.
   
7. Soup Assemble! Take a bowl with a poached egg in the bottom. Ladle in soup to cover the egg. Add ample croutons on top. Drizzle with olive oil.

Et voila! Bon appetit!