Saffron Fava Bean Soup

Tonight’s soup was good, but probably would have been better if I had followed the suggestions before the ingredients.  We have a lot left, so the next time I serve it, I am going to cook up some pasta to add to the soup and put some parmesan cheese on top.  We had some cheese and crackers as a prelude to the soup. 

This is from Rachael Ray’s new cookbook called My Year in Meals.  This was an early Christmas present from my brother and his wife.  The part of the cookbook I really want to get into is written by her husband, called My Year in Cocktails.   Serves 4.   

Ingredients:

¾ # dried fava beans

3 T EVOO

¼ # pancetta, bacon or salt pork, finely diced

1 carrot, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red Fresno chile, chopped

2 T fresh thyme leaves finely chopped

2 fresh bay leaves

2 pinches of saffron threads

4 cups chicken broth

4 cups water

Directions:

1.       Put the fava beans in a large bowl with salted water to cover by an inch or two and soak overnight.  Drain and rinse the beans.

2.       In a Dutch oven, heat the EVOO and add the bacon.  Render out the bacon a few minutes. 

3.       Add all the remaining ingredients.

4.       Cook for 2 hours at a low boil.  I cooked mine all day at a very slow simmer.  This is a great recipe for a crock pot. 

5.       Fish out the bay leaves and puree half the soup to make it creamier looking.  If you are adding the pasta, you probably do not need to do this.  I found the soup very tasty, although I added a teaspoon of salt to the finished soup.  I found the fava beans to be tasteless, so I pureed most of the soup.  I think adding the pasta to the original soup, you would not need to puree.