Pureed garbanzo beans, a salt pork-infused stock, more pork – this time in the form of prosciutto – all crispy on top, and a couple of intensely flavored infused oils to finish things off. So good! I love it as a first course or as a main course with a salad. This Spanish garbanzo bean soup has been a family favorite in my house for years now and I think once you try it, it will be a favorite in yours as well!
You can connect with me by subscribing to my emails (see the form in the sidebar or below the recipe card), liking my FACEBOOK page, or by following me on PINTEREST.
Last year, yes all the way back to last spring, I posted a recipe for a Spanish Potato and Chorizo Tortilla, which I got from this awesome Spanish cookbook – The New Spanish Table. And I promised I would post my absolute favorite recipe for Spanish garbanzo bean soup here as well. Which was followed by me posting all sorts of other wonderful recipes, since I just couldn’t wait another moment to share them with you, and telling myself that soon I would take photos of the soup. Soon.
Well, today is finally the day. 🙂
I remember making this soup the first time. Sauteing, simmering, pureeing. Making the infused oils, crisping up the prosciutto, and hoping that it was going to taste as good as it smelled. Spoiler alert: It did! And I immediately marked it “✔++” next to the title so I would remember how great it was and be sure to make it again.
I make my soup a little bit differently from the original recipe, but still very close since it was such a great recipe to start.
- I prefer to crisp the leeks and use them as a garnish rather than adding them to the soup with the aromatics.
- I also like a white onion as opposed to the more standard yellow onion in the soup.
- Since slabs of bacon are not a thing around here, I use a slab of salt pork to infuse the stock.
- And I like to reserve a few of the chickpeas to top the soup instead of pureeing them all.
Not huge differences, but I think my alterations make the soup a little more dramatic and have it work better with the ingredients I have available to me.
Also, I always, always use the parsley oil. In the book, she has it noted as optional but we think it’s integral. Not only does it make such a pretty soup with the red and green oils, but pureeing the parsley in olive oil gives it a stronger, more intense flavor. Let’s just say, I highly recommend making both the infused oils!
One last thing before I send you off to the recipe – though Christmas is currently far away, it will come back again as it does 🙂 and I would like to note that the red oil and green oil along with the golden soup makes for a great Christmas soup for the holiday season.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Creamy Spanish Garbanzo Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 medium white onion, chopped
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 15 oz cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 3-4 cups low sodium or no sodium chicken stock
- 6 oz slab of salt pork
- kosher salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 oz proscuitto, diced
- 1 leek, white only, cut down the middle and sliced
- paprkia oil, see notes for link
- parsley oil, see notes for link
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-low heat in a medium pot. Add the salt, onion, carrot, and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the aromatics soften, but not brown, for about 5 minutes. Take the garbanzo beans and reserve about 1/2 cup from the soup and set them aside. Add the remaining garbanzo beans, 3 cups of chicken stock, and salt pork to the pot. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the soup cook for 30 minutes.
- Take the pot off the heat, remove the salt pork from the pot and discard. In two batches, puree the soup in the blender until completely smooth. Return the soup to the pot. Add chicken stock if needed to thin the soup and add salt and pepper to taste.
- While the soup is cooking, crisp up the prosciutto and leeks. For the prosciutto, start with a dry skillet and heat over medium high until very hot. (Don't use non stick.) Add the prosciutto and cook, stirring constantly, until it's very crisp and browned. Transfer the prosciutto to a plate. In the same skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add the leeks and saute until browned and crispy, about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the leeks to a towel lined plate.
- To serve the soup, ladle portions into soup bowls. Top with reserved garbanzo beans, crispy leeks and prosciutto, and drizzle with some paprika oil and parsley oil.
Notes
- Adapted from The New Spanish Table.
- Recipes for paprika oil and parsley oil are in my Infused Oils post.
- If you want to keep things simple, you can just use the paprika oil and crispy prosciutto as garnishes and skip the others. (Though a little chopped parsley on top is nice.)
- This soup is wonderful when made the day before and reheated before serving. You can also make the paprika oil and parsley oil ahead.
Leave a Reply