This is perhaps one of my favourite dishes and one of my favourite ways to use small, white navy or cannellini beans. I am not alone in my love of fasolada. The traditional soup is commonly known as ‘the Food of the Greeks’ and is something of a national dish. The combination of creamy beans, cooked until bursting point, with the holy trinity of celery, onion, carrot and gently scented with aromatic bay leaves is a very good one. You can have your fasolada ‘white’ meaning without tomato, but in our family tomato and a hint of Mum’s chilli puree are essential, so to are plenty of the tender pale leaves from the heart of the celery.
Although you can make fasolada with a time saving can of pre-cooked beans, I can guarantee you that the finished dish will not have the same therapeutic and restorative effect of your own, home-cooked beans. As our Uncle Dionysius once told me, “no Greek home is complete without a pot of beans cooking on the stove.”
Sofia's fasolada
Mum's traditional bean soup, Φασολάδα.
Ingredients
- 500 grams White beans medium sized
- 3 sticks Celery left whole
- 3 Bay leaves dried
- 3 tbsp EVOO
- 1 White onion finely chopped
- 3 sticks Celery, plus tender leaves De-stringed and finely chopped
- 3 Carrots Peeled and sliced into rounds
- 3 cloves Garlic Finely sliced
- 4 Tomatoes grated
- Chilli puree, sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
- Marinate anchovies, olives and toursi to serve
Instructions
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In a bowl, add the dried beans and cover with four times the amount of water to beans and leave to soak overnight.
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The next day, drain and wash the beans well with cold water.
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Add the soaked, rinsed beans to a pot and just cover with water. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes. A white foam will rise to the surface. Remove from the heat, drain and rinse well with plenty of water.
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Tip the briefly cooked, rinsed beans into a large heavy based pot. Add water to cover the beans by at least 8cm and add the bay leaves, level teaspoon of sea salt and the 3 whole celery sticks. Bring to the boil, reduce to a low simmer and cook until the beans are nearly just tender, about 1 hour. Drain the beans and reserve the cooking liquid. Discard the celery and bay leaves.
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In the cleaned pot, add the olive oil, white onion, garlic, remaining celery and leaves, garlic and carrot. Saute for around 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the drained beans and stir well to coat them in the aromatic vegetables and oil. Add the grated tomato, chilli (if using) and add the reserved bean cooking liquid. Bring to the boil and simmer for a further hour. About 10 minutes before the soup is ready, check the seasoning and add a little more sea salt or ground black pepper, if required.
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Serve the soup with an extra drizzle of EVOO on each bowl, along with a seperate plate of marinate anchovies, olives and pickled toursi vegetables.
