Bean Bonanza – Zuppa di fagioli e cozze

Ingredients: fresh borlotti beans, mussels, garlic, olive oil, a sprig of rosemary.

I bought fresh borlotti beans at the market.  Here they are cooking.

I also bought some mussels, called Niedditas, that hail from Sardinia and are supposed to be extra special.

Silly me, however, I didn’t take a photo of the actual mussels, only of the brochure.

Anyway, I steamed the mussels open:

Here they are, resting.  I got rid of most of the shells but saved a few for presentation. I passed the liquor that the mussels had exuded through a fine sieve.

I then cooked some garlic in olive oil, until it went golden and then added about two-thirds of the cooked beans and combined.  I then added the liquid from the mussels and used an immersion blender to blitz it all into a thick yet soupy consistency.  It was a tad too thick, so I added some hot water.  I then placed a sprig of rosemary in the mix and left it to rest there and blend with its companions.

I tasted it for seasoning, adding salt and pepper and, finally, added both shelled and unshelled mussels and some beans.

A final drizzle of olive oil and, as in my case, a little bit of chilli … and there you are.  Mussel and bean soup.

There was some of the soup left over the next day (no mussels however) … so I cooked some egg pasta separately and added it to the bean soup.

My lunch the next day.  Shakespeare would have approved.

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