Runner bean soup doesn’t sound that good does it? It sounds healthy and earnest .Turns out it makes a very nice soup. I was talking about it to friends and they said ‘how do you get rid of the taste of runner beans? Which left me a bit lost for words.. because I like the taste! That’s why I grow them.
So after sparrowagedon whereby the sparrows ate all the flowers.. then I netted the beans – which stopped the sparrows, until the flowers grew through the nets.. then the beans and nets got very tangled and under pressure until I cut the nets… fortunately they were just old torn nets left over from the hen runs, but I wont be doing that again.
The beans kept on flowering and the sparrows got bored – or perhaps they had raised their young and didn’t need the extra food? And I am now completely overwhelmed with beans. I have come to the conclusion that I am glad sparrows are no longer in such short supply and we can share and I will accept that in future I will get my beans later on in the summer.
Now it is September and feeling autumnal, but the beans are still coming in in heaps – Every meal comes with beans, and we are still enjoying them, and freezing the surplus, and making pickle, but still they pile up. Which is why I experimented with the soup. And it is a winner – really quite tasty. I am sure this would work well with frozen beans too.
runner bean soup
500g runner beans – prepared as you would normally – I disgarded really stringy ones.
2 onions, diced
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1 litre of stock – I used 2 teaspoons of Swiss marigold veg bullion and water
1 clove of garlic, peeled.
I melted the butter and cooked the onions until soft, while I prepared the beans. Then in went the beans, a quick stir around, then the flour ( which looks like a bad idea, but it works), stir around , and then the stock. I threw in the garlic, covered and simmered for 20 mins or so, until the beans were soft and the garlic clove squishable. In with my trusty stick blender and then a taste for seasoning – but between the butter and the stock, no more salt was needed.
Ideal for the forthcoming colder weather.
sounds good..plenty of garlic! We’ve recently had pea and mint soup, we’ll have to try this one next year
I had a row of runner beans,
half were trampled (with partial permission…) when there was major garden works,
the other half had to fight off our hen who took up gardening,
they had to stand fast as the dog ‘accidently’ ran through when she followed a ball,
the remaining survivors then produced just enough to fill a small bowl – which was eaten.
sigh.
No soup this year then..!
what a pity we don’t live nearer – I could give you a carrier bag full… more soup for us I guess.