I took advantage of the recent cold weather to dig through my extensive cookbook collection for soup recipes. I love old cookbooks for their language, old ingredients, and especially their technicolor pictures. One can tell a lot about the social customs of the time by perusing through these bright pages.
I pulled down one of my Grandmother’s books, the Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook from 1959. I love the way this cookbook is organized: “Dishes to Tote,” “Cooking for a Crowd,” and “Money-Maker Recipes.” In the “From the Garden” section I found a recipe for Green Bean Soup. Since it made a batch for 8 to 10 servings and it used a ham bone, I changed up the recipe a bit by halving it and using bacon.
Green Bean Soup
1/2 lb. lean bacon, cut into pieces
1/2 c. small white onion, minced
2 c. water
2 c. chicken stock or vegetable stock
7 whole allspice
1/4 t. dried thyme (not ground)
4 sprigs parsley, or 1 t. dried parsley
3/4 c. diced potatoes
1 c. green beans, cut into small bite-size pieces (I used what I had put up in the freezer last summer.)
1/4 c. light cream
1/2 T. butter
1 t. salt
In a large sauce pan, cook bacon until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels. In 2 T. of the bacon fat, saute onions. Add water and stock. Place allspice, fresh parsley, and thyme in a tea or spice ball and add to soup pot. Add potatoes and beans and cook until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove spice ball.
