Yet another meal that can feed an army finds its way into my winter repertoire.
Two years ago, I was with my boyfriend and my parents at the base of a big hill in Slovenia. Up at the top was Cerkev Sv. Jošta, a church my mom remembered from her childhood and wanted to visit again. Also up on that hill was a lovely little restaurant overlooking an endless field of rolling green hills, with plenty of good, warm food—the hearty stuff you need after scrambling up a beautiful, if rocky mini-mountain for the past hour. (It was beautiful, though. Just check out that video. While it was pretty rainy for a good deal of that vacation, the few sunny days were such a balm for the soul.)
But while my boyfriend, dad, and I all had these pretty familiar dishes—pasta and roast beef, chicken in curry sauce, goulash with polenta—my mom had this reddish brown, savory stew full of big white beans: pasulj (pah-sool). I'd never had it before, but I remember when I tried it that it was some seriously delicious stuff. Comfort food to the max: warming, filling, salty, and plenty nutritious. I wanted to make it myself, and it seems I finally got around to it two years later. (And yay hooray, because it wasn't nearly so hard as I thought it would be!)
All that aside, though, as we take a peek at these ingredients, we can see exactly how this becomes such a powerhouse not only nutritionally, but magically, too. For this recipe, we're focusing on keeping our inner fire stoked throughout winter, and that means we need to use ingredients that are based in that fire—as well as representing the luck and glory and sheer confidence we're looking for. As a result, we'll be looking at onions, carrots, beans, pork, and bay leaves.
Magic in Pasulj
So, again: what's our goal for autumn and winter? To stay strong and capable. Even if back in the day, things slowed down a bit, this hustle-and-bustle world we have now has us trying to do all kinds of stuff year round. That's hard! And sometimes, you need a good bit of crusty bread and a hearty bowl of bean soup to rest your bones and restore your mind. In this meal, with two onions, carrots, bay leaves, pork, and beans, you have a mix of items that contribute these main themes: prosperity and healing (pork, bay, onion), creativity and fertility (bean, carrot), and protection (bean, onion, bay).
The major elemental influences here are a majority of creative, transformative fire, along with a touch of air for that mental clarity and earth for that grounding and healing. Planet-wise, we also have Mars, the Sun, Mercury, and Jupiter—planets that get us active, open to new opportunity, able to easily express ourselves, and able to expand our energy into even more beautiful projects and goals. This meal is a powerhouse, and it's one that can restore your energy physically as much as metaphysically; it's one that takes care of the whole you.
Pasulj
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
For soup:
1 to 2lbs smoked ham (spiral ham, smoked sausage, etc.) cut into pieces
400g (~1lb) dried big johnny beans (white beans)
2 onions, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
4 celery stalks, diced
1 1/2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp Vegeta (or Mrs. Dash)
3 bay leaves
4 to 6 cups of water
For roux:
3/4 cup (90g) oil of choice
2-3 Tbsp flour
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp paprika
Directions:
Soak your beans for up to 12 hours.
Put beans in a big soup pot with their water. Add enough water to cover, then bring beans to a boil and then let simmer for 30min.
Prepare all of your vegetables and meat while the beans cook and set aside.
Strain the beans and set aside, then add oil to the pot and fry your onions until slightly browned.
Add carrots, celery, and tomato paste, and cook for another 5min on low.
Add meat and beans back to the pot, then add water and bring to a boil.
Simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Towards the end, heat oil in a pan and fry your garlic. When it's fragrant, add flour and paprika.
Stir until a slightly runny, lump-free paste forms and the flour cooks, about 3 to 5min.
Add roux to the soup and stir, then let cook another 5min.
Serve with fresh bread.
The paprika and the smokiness of the meat may remind you something of barbeque chips, but trust me when I say this stuff is delicious. And this recipe makes quite a bit, so if you have a big family or are a single person that wants to have some stuff to squirrel away in the freezer, this meal is fantastic. Easy, simple, and so very flavorful, I highly suggest you try it out at least once this cold season! ♥
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Sara Raztresen is a Slovene-American writer, screenwriter, and Christian witch. Her fantasy works draw heavily on the wisdom she gathers from her own personal and spiritual experience, and her spiritual practice borrows much of the whimsy and wonder that modern society has relegated to fairy-and-folktale. Her goal is to help people regain their spiritual footing and discover God through a new (yet old) lens of mysticism.
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