TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Improvising saves time and money

Photo by Lynn Kessel

This satisfying, high-protein soup is terrific accompanied by garlic toast or a salad, and it couldn't be simpler to make.

ADVERTISEMENT

By LYNN KESSEL

Tribune columnist

Published: November 11, 2009

Related Links

• Table Scraps blog

Lynn Kessel

I inherited the whip-up-something-out-of-nothing gene from my mother, a talent for creating ingenious meals out of necessity.

We grew up in a woodsy, secluded neighborhood in Minnesota, and my father drove our only car to work. That meant Mom had no way to get to the supermarket during the week and had to improvise.

If my mother was going to announce, "Soups on!" shortly after Dad walked through the door, she had to be highly organized and creative with whatever was stored in the pantry, freezer or fridge.

You younger folks may find this hard to believe, but there were no convenience stores dotting the neighborhood. If Mom discovered she didn't have any eggs for the meatloaf, she borrowed from a neighbor, used something else or went without.

Looking for something to jazz up my salad and protein dinner, I rummaged through my pantry. That's when I took a good look in the cupboard and found, for some odd reason, I'd been stockpiling dried beans.

There were bags and half-bags of chickpeas, great Northern beans, black beans, three kinds of lentils and several varieties of rice.

In addition to the legumes, I found some never-used food items that were purchased for recipes I didn't make.

That's when I thought, "Why don't I just use some of this stuff and weed out the pantry?"
I knew I could cut down on waste and probably save a few pennies, goals likely also shared by your family.

So I'm working to make a dent in the stash. Hey, maybe then I'll be able to see what's in the back.

For this week's Spanish bean soup recipe, I've combined some of those dried garbanzo beans and a package of spicy chorizo I had in the pantry with ham and beef bones from the freezer.
This type of satisfying, high-protein dish easily fills the tummy when accompanied by garlic toast or a salad. And it couldn't be a simpler dish to make.

By the way, if anyone has ideas for meals involving marinated mussels and pickled lemongrass, I'm all ears.

SPANISH BEAN SOUP
1/2 pound garbanzo beans or chickpeas, dried
1 ham bone
1 beef bone
2 quarts water
1 tablespoon salt
1 onion, finely chopped
1 chorizo, sliced in thin rounds
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Pinch of saffron
Wash the garbanzos and then soak overnight with 1 tablespoon salt in enough water to cover them. In the morning, drain the water.
Place the beans in a 4-quart soup kettle, add 2 quarts of water and the ham and beef bones. Cook for 45 minutes over low heat, skimming foam from the top. Add the chopped onion, sauté them lightly, then add to beans along with potatoes, paprika and saffron. Add salt to taste.
When the potatoes are tender, remove from heat and add the chorizo.
Serves 4.
Adapted from "The Columbia Restaurant Spanish Cookbook," by Adela Hernandez Gonzmart and Ferdie Pacheco

Lynn Kessel can be reached at lkessel@mac.com. For more of her recipes, visit southshore.tbo.com and enter the search words Lynn Kessel or look for her blog at www.lynnkessel.blogspot.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT