Fasolada
White beans simmered with carrot, celery and tomato in a great deal of olive oil. Often called the national dish of Greece, and proof that the simplest cooking depends most on the quality of what goes in.
Photograph credit: Fasolada by Miansari66 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
A generous amount of good olive oil added both during and after cooking emulsifies with the bean starch to give the soup its silky body — this is not a dish to economise on fat. Adding the salt only once the beans are tender prevents the skins toughening, a real effect with dried pulses.
Quick Answers
How long does Fasolada take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking, plus 8 hours of soaking, so allow 9 hours 30 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Photograph credit: Yummy bean and noodle soup at Sciue by roland · CC0 1.0 · Flickr
How to Make Fasolada
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Drain the soaked beans, cover with fresh water, bring to the boil and simmer 5 minutes. Drain again.
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Heat 100 ml of the olive oil in a large pot and cook the onions, carrots and celery over medium heat for 12 minutes until softened and sweet.
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Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomato purée and paprika and cook 2 minutes.
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Add the beans, tomatoes, bay, oregano and 1.5 litres of water. Bring to the boil.
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Reduce to a simmer and cook, partly covered, for 60 to 80 minutes until the beans are completely tender.
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Now add the salt and plenty of pepper, and simmer 10 minutes more.
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Mash a ladleful of beans against the side of the pot and stir back in to thicken the broth.
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Stir in the remaining 50 ml of olive oil and the parsley off the heat.
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Serve warm rather than piping hot, with a further slick of olive oil over each bowl, lemon and olives.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips That Matter
- Salt at the end. Salting dried beans early genuinely does keep the skins tough.
- Use olive oil you would happily dress a salad with. It is the dominant flavour.
- Greeks eat this warm rather than scalding, which lets the olive oil flavour come through.
Swaps and Variations
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
- Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.
Pairs Well With
Feta, olives and crusty bread · Raw onion and lemon · A dry white such as Assyrtiko
Storage
Refrigerate up to 5 days — it improves — and freeze 3 months. Add a fresh slick of oil when reheating.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: an ingredient listed without an amount is not counted, so the figures run low; garnishes, greasing and other items with no amount are not counted. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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