For those not following the AR Souper Bowl, or just looking for a great soup recipe, here’s mine for a hearty lamb and bean soup inspired by the flavors and foods of the Levant (see below for what that means).
Levantine Lamb & Bean Soup
Levant is a historical name for the region of the Eastern Mediterranean ranging from southeastern Turkey in the north through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and a significant portion of Egypt. In modern usage, the Levant is Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan, roughly. Levantine food is quite similar across the region, and has close connections to Turkey, Arabia, and Greece.
Common ingredients in food in the area include lamb, beef, chicken, white beans, chickpeas, fava beans, and flageolet beans, and lots of fresh vegetables. Much of the area is good for truck farming similar to central california. Spices and herbs include cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, and cardamom. Most households have a mix of 6 to 7 spices in a jar that they use for a majority of cooking called Baharat, which translates to English as “spice”. Cous cous and bulgur are common, of course, as is olive oil for almost all cooking and salads.
A bunch of research turned up this idea of using lamb and beans to make a hearty soup or stew for dinner. I did not use any specific recipe. Instead, I crafted my own based on the recipes, ideas, traditions that I was finding.
Ingredients
About the Salt
Don’t add any salt until the end. Try not to use stock with high salt content. You will likely not need any salt, and I find that adding salt and using salted stock will have a tendency to break the skin of the beans. At the end, when the beans are done, taste and add salt if some seasoning is needed. Give that 10 minutes for the beans and meat to incorporate the salt, then serve.
Method
Serve with cous cous, rice, pita bread, a green salad or a traditional Levantine salad like tabbouleh.
A commercial Baharat ….. I’m going to start making my own.
Mise en Place
Browning the meat …. Make sure to not crowd the meat
Reserved meat while onions, garlic, spices are getting cooked
Everything assembled
Bring it to a hard boil for 5 minutes
The lid cracked open just enough to maintain that low simmer
Almost done!
Served …. I served pearled cous cous and green salad with it.
Levantine Lamb & Bean Soup
Levant is a historical name for the region of the Eastern Mediterranean ranging from southeastern Turkey in the north through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and a significant portion of Egypt. In modern usage, the Levant is Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Jordan, roughly. Levantine food is quite similar across the region, and has close connections to Turkey, Arabia, and Greece.
Common ingredients in food in the area include lamb, beef, chicken, white beans, chickpeas, fava beans, and flageolet beans, and lots of fresh vegetables. Much of the area is good for truck farming similar to central california. Spices and herbs include cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, and cardamom. Most households have a mix of 6 to 7 spices in a jar that they use for a majority of cooking called Baharat, which translates to English as “spice”. Cous cous and bulgur are common, of course, as is olive oil for almost all cooking and salads.
A bunch of research turned up this idea of using lamb and beans to make a hearty soup or stew for dinner. I did not use any specific recipe. Instead, I crafted my own based on the recipes, ideas, traditions that I was finding.
Ingredients
- 1 lb lamb shoulder, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch chunks. Remove large pieces of fat and silver skin.
- 8 oz Flageolet or White Beans (or 2 cans if you insist on using canned beans)
- 1 1/2 cups tomato purée (you can sub 1/2 cup tomato paste and 1 cup water)
- 1 cup red wine (use something from the Med area: Tempranillo, Chianti, or a good Lebanese wine)
- 3 cups stock (can be lamb, beef, chicken, or even vegetable), preferably unsalted or low sodium
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp Baharat (I get mine on amazon, but you can also make your own)
- 1 tsp oregano - optional, but I like what it does
- 2-3 bay leaves
About the Salt
Don’t add any salt until the end. Try not to use stock with high salt content. You will likely not need any salt, and I find that adding salt and using salted stock will have a tendency to break the skin of the beans. At the end, when the beans are done, taste and add salt if some seasoning is needed. Give that 10 minutes for the beans and meat to incorporate the salt, then serve.
Method
- Prepare everything in place before you start cooking (Mise en Place)
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven until shimmering, then brown the meat. Separate the meat into two batches so that you aren’t crowding and steaming it rather than browning. Reserve the meat once browned
- Add another tbsp olive oil if needed, then add onion and cook over medium low heat until translucent, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic and spices, stir in to onions well, cook until fragrant. Roughly 1 minute
- Deglaze pot with the wine.
- Add tomato purée, water, stock to the pot.
- Add meat and beans and bay leaves.
- Turn heat to high, bring pot to a hard boil for 5 minutes
- Turn heat down to low, prop a lid on the pot so it is slightly open and bring the soup to a bare simmer. This means 5-10 bubbles per minute, not continuous bubbling.
- Simmer everything for 3 hours or so. It will take that long to cook the dry beans, maybe a bit longer. If you use canned beans, don’t add them until the last 30 minutes after the meat is tender. I can’t help on timing here, I’ve never done it this way.
- While simmering, if the liquid seems to be getting low, or too thick, you can add some water. I do that about 1/2 cup at a time if needed.
- When the beans are done, which means they still have a firm skin, the meat of the bean is tender, and the bean is flavorful, check for seasoning. You may need to add some salt. Do that in very small increments until the soup tastes right, then cook an additional 10 minutes to incorporate the salt into the meat and beans.
Serve with cous cous, rice, pita bread, a green salad or a traditional Levantine salad like tabbouleh.
A commercial Baharat ….. I’m going to start making my own.
Mise en Place
Browning the meat …. Make sure to not crowd the meat
Reserved meat while onions, garlic, spices are getting cooked
Everything assembled
Bring it to a hard boil for 5 minutes
The lid cracked open just enough to maintain that low simmer
Almost done!
Served …. I served pearled cous cous and green salad with it.
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