{"id":110253,"date":"2020-07-18T09:47:53","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T13:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=110253"},"modified":"2020-07-26T19:35:10","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T23:35:10","slug":"tuscan-white-bean-soup-casar-godello-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=110253","title":{"rendered":"Tuscan White Bean Soup and Casar Godello \u201918"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Early full disclosure:  I\u2019m not a huge fan of soups.  Yes, I can selectively love<\/em> them, particularly at the hands of skilled practitioners of making: French onion soup, New England clam chowder, minestrone  & matzoh ball soup (and I admit that I will give a flyer to anything that has sausage and\/or clams in it).  But here\u2019s the thing\u2026 I only enjoy soup the \u201cnight of.\u201d  Meaning?  I ain\u2019t interested in left-overs, or previously-made-frozen-then-reheated soup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019 the deal.  Once warm weather sets in, dinner descends to: on-the-grill or salads.  You know what I\u2019m talking about\u2026 juicy cheeseburgers & hot dogs, marinated flank steaks, thick cut porterhouse steaks w\/veggie kebobs, baby back ribs, barbequed chicken & swordfish steaks\u2026 or cold salads with special-ingredients-that sound-interesting-but-never-deliver-the-satisfaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where are the wonderful casseroles, stews and dishes prepared in Dutch ovens and slow cookers? Where are those supreme dishes of cooler weather, dishes that make enough for two nights and maybe more?  And can be enjoyed with even greater relish on day two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aye, there is the rub.  So, I was hunting for an alternative to the grill without traversing on that sad path to cold salads.  And, lo!  I found a soup!  A soup of all things!  And me, a soup naysayer!  But there you are!  Life\u2019s pleasures sometimes come from unexpected quarters!  This recipe is easy (I mean real<\/em> easy) and delicious!  And, YES!  Slow cooker!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For wine I wanted a flavorful White that didn\u2019t exhibit an obvious citrus or oaky layer of flavors. Fresh, with pleasant fruit with some minerality to provide complexity.  I chose a beautiful Godello from the northwest corner of Spain.  Other wine ideas?  Greco di Tufo or a C\u00f4te du Rh\u00f4ne Blanc.  Or alternatively a Ros\u00e9 or a lighter styled Red like a Beaujolais Villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Casar Godello \u201818  (Bierzo,  Spain) <\/u><\/strong>
Made from 100% Godello grapes from the middle plots of the Valtuille de Arriba vineyards. 
The nose is divine, great intensity. Aromas of exotic fruits, passion fruit, splash of citrus, as well as white stone fruits. On palate the fruit concentration and freshness are tangible, great structure on the wine which can be attributed to aging the wine on its lees. A fresh, alive, and fruity entrance into a wonderful body and texture that is wrapped up by magnificent acidity. The mark of a truly great white wine. Mineral and citric sensations, with plenty of length. 90pts Wine Spectator<\/em>; 90pts Wine Enthusiast<\/em>; 90pts Pe\u00f1in<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TUSCAN WHITE BEAN SOUP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients <\/strong>
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
\u00bd ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
6 cups unsalted chicken stock
1\u00bd cups chopped onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
5 cloves garlic, chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
12 oz dried great northern beans
3 cups of kale, stemmed and chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
\u00bc tsp kosher salt
1 lb Italian sausage links, cut into 1\u201d pieces
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
\u00bc cup of shaved Parmesan cheese
1 personal sized watermelon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directions
<\/strong>1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, \u201cYou who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!\u201d Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Put chicken stock, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaf & great northern beans into a slow cooker cover and set to LOW for 8 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.  Discard the thyme sprigs & bay leaf. To the slow cooker, add the kale, salt, tomato paste and sausage. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and serve with shaved parmesan cheese.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

n.b.<\/strong> The original recipe called for \u201chot\u201d Italian sausage.  I chose \u201csweet\u201d.  Next, the recipe called for taking the sausages out of the casings to fashion mini-meatballs to use. Not happening!  I cut the sausages into sections that seemed \u201cmini  meatball sized\u201d appropriate.  And, final comment\u2026 the watermelon is included in the \u201cingredient\u201d list because I love watermelon, but it  has nothing to do with this recipe!  But you knew that all along!  Didn’t you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early full disclosure:  I\u2019m not a huge fan of soups.  Yes, I can selectively love them, particularly at the hands of skilled practitioners of making: French onion soup, New England clam chowder, minestrone  & matzoh ball soup (and I admit that I will … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sandys-table"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110253"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110267,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110253\/revisions\/110267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}