Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Baby Lima Soup with Chipotle Broth

For a combination of six ingredients, eight if you count water and salt, this soup has amazing flavor. I wanted a hearty, wintery, bean soup, and I was willing to expend the energy to soak the beans, chop vegetables, and stir for hours while it simmered. Then, I found this recipe, and almost none of that was required. Did you know you don’t even have to soak baby lima beans before cooking them? I didn’t. They’re big enough, even though they’re babies, that I would have assumed they should be soaked overnight like other dried beans. In less than an hour of simmering, they were cooked through and tender. As they cooked in plain water, a head of garlic bobbed along with them and added flavor. Sauteed onion and chipotles were added once the beans were cooked, and other than squeezing in some lime juice, that was all the effort that was needed. This soup is found in Super Natural Cooking, and it was part of a nice, light meal with a citrus and celery salad.

As I mentioned, the baby limas were not soaked. They were simply washed and then placed in a pot with water. The top was cut off a bulb of garlic and it was added to the water. This was left to simmer for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I finely chopped an onion and a few chipotles from a can, and those were sauteed in clarified butter. The beans really don’t demand any special attention while they cook, but you should check them for doneness just before 40 minutes have elapsed to be sure they don’t get to a point of mushiness. When they were just cooked through, the sauteed onion and chipotles, some adobo sauce from the can of chipotles, and salt were added. After a few more minutes of simmering, the soup was ready.

The soup was so easy to prepare that I actually went ahead and made the suggested garnish as well. Crunchy topopos were made from a multi-grain tortilla which was thinly sliced, the strips were tossed with some vegetable oil, and they were baked for a few minutes. They were a nice textural contrast on top of the spicy, brothy soup. The butter sauteed onions added richness while the chipotles’ smokiness and spice worked some kind of magic. This tasted far more complex than it actually was, and I might not have believed how simple the recipe was had I not prepared it myself.




26 comments:

  1. Soup. Yes, soup. That is what I need right now. The rain is pouring heavily here. It cold and dreary and some chipotle broth seems like the perfect sure to heat things up.

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  2. Simple and delicious is a winning combination and so few recipes are actually both. I'm starting to think it's time I bought that cookbook.

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  3. I'm not too crazy about limas, but my husband likes them. So, I might make this to earn some points!

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  4. looks hearty! I love soups with minimal ingredients and relatively fast cooking :)

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  5. I love beans with the chipotle flavor here. I bet this was delicious.

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  6. Chipotle broth sounds amazing! I love the flavor of chipotle! Will have to try this!

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  7. How cool you don't even have to soak them; what a great time saver! Love that chipotle broth too.

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  8. That looks really delicious! Very comforting!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  9. I think I've been scarred by lima beans from childhood. You know, those awful memories of the frozen and canned stuff that just had such a terrible texture? So the dried baby limas are not like that at all, I take it? OK, you might just convince me to try them, despite my lima bean-aversion.

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  10. Great looking soup, it really looks beautiful. I bet the chipotle really gives it a little "something special".
    *kisses* HH

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  11. this sounds perfect for me, as beans and chipotle peppers are two of my absolute favorite ingredients. while i like baby limas, i LOVE big, fat, meaty fordhook limas--have you had those? awesome, but i guess they'd require lots of soaking. :)

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  12. the baby lima bean looks really soft and creamy....

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  13. Ah, I have Super Natural Cooking, but I must have passed this one right up. You do make it sound very appealing!

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  14. A perfectly delicious soup! I love the sound of chipotle broth!

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  15. Love the idea of chipotle broth. My daughter is going to love this. She loves beans and spicy!

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  16. Nice soup! I love chipotle peppers - great way to spice it up!

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  17. Ahh fabulous! You know I had no idea that baby lima beans didn't need to be soaked. I'm forever forgetting to soak them the night before! lol

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  18. I like chipotle but don't like lima beans, I'm torn...........

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  19. I have the book, and flirted with this soup since I first read it... however, my beloved is anti=lima beans

    I wonder if this soup could make him switch teams
    :-)

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  20. Great soup, Lisa. I love the chipotle, and my father taught me the nuance in flavor of a baby lima bean. Thanks!

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  21. I'm like Carolyn - I treat lima beans with respect - and some distance, but this delicious sounding soup makes me want to step closer. I love the chipotle addition

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  22. I've never seen lima beans looking so good! This sounds so tasty!

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  23. I've gotta try this one! I'm on a little bit of a kick with white beans and lima beans right now and I love finding healthy, quick and easy soup recipes. Thanks! Bookmarking now.

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  24. Nice! I love the smoky flavor of chipotles. I've never seen baby lima beans before, but I'll have to keep an eye out for them, they look much nicer than the big honkin' full grown ones.

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  25. I made this today and it came out fantastic. I used too much adobo so I added (2) 14.5 ounce cans of chicken broth to dilute the heat a bit. Also squeezed out the cooked garlic cloves, diced coarsely and returned to the soup; squeezed some lime over and topped with broken tortilla chips.

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