Ciorbă de Fasole cu Afumătură
Ciorbă de Fasole cu Afumătură·(chor-bah deh fah-so-leh coo ah-foo-mah-too-rah)
Ciorbă: Restorative Weeknight Soups
This is peasant food at its absolute finest—the kind of restorative, smoky, deeply comforting bowl that gets you through a bitter Eastern European winter. Traditionally, this means soaking beans for a day and boiling pork knuckles for hours. We're keeping the soul but saving your weeknight by rendering thick-cut bacon and smoked sausage, leaning on good canned beans, and insisting on the holy trinity of Transylvanian aromatics: parsnip, celery root, and tarragon. The real secret? A sharp hit of vinegar off the heat, and the patience to let it rest before you dig in.
Ingredients
- thick-cut bacon8 oz
- smoked kielbasa8 oz
- yellow onion1 med
- carrots2 med
- parsnip1 med
- celery root1/2 small
- chicken stock6 cup
- canned cannellini or Great Northern beans30 oz
- dried tarragon1 tbsp
- white wine vinegar2 tbsp
Method
- 01
Render the smoked meats in a large, heavy-bottomed pot.
Place the diced bacon in a cold pot over medium heat and render until crisp, then toss in the sliced smoked sausage to brown. This builds a deep, smoky foundation without requiring a whole smoked pork knuckle to boil for hours.
- 02
Sweat the root vegetables in the rendered fat.
Add the onion, carrots, parsnip, and celery root. Sauté until the vegetables are softened, about 8 to 10 minutes. Do not skip the celery root and parsnip; they are the non-negotiable anchor of the traditional Romanian flavor profile.
- 03
Simmer the beans and tarragon in the broth.
Pour in the stock, bring to a rolling boil, then stir in the drained beans and dried tarragon. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes so the beans absorb the smoky, herbal broth.
- 04
Acidulate the soup off the heat and let it rest.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vinegar. Adding the acid off the heat prevents the beans from toughening. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving so the smoke, herbs, and tang can properly marry.
Notes
Serve with a simple red onion salad and crusty bread.
Thinly slice a red onion, massage it with a pinch of salt to soften, and toss with a splash of oil and vinegar. Eating a bite of this sharp, raw salad between spoonfuls of the rich, smoky broth is exactly how it is done in Romania.
From Cook Romanian in America.