Pasjul

From Vera Videnovich

I didn’t get a photo of Vera, or her soup, at the final S&B of the year — so here’s one from 2009, shot when I took a trip out to her farm in Western Michigan. There, on land she shares with her brothers and a flock of adorable sheep, Vera grows okra, delicious tiny cucumbers, eggplant, beans, tomatoes, and all manner of peppers — all using minimal pesticides and no chemical inputs. She also spins and dyes her own wool, and sells both her produce and her yarn and knitwear at local farmers markets and craft fairs, and runs a CSA vegetable subscription with pickups at the Hyde Park Art Center and the Empty Bottle — and supplies local restaurants like Nightwood and Revolution Brewing with farm-fresh veggies to boot. One of the hardest-working people I know, she is also a good cook! She shared this Serbian standard, along with a plate of zeljenica, on April 11.

Ingredients
1 bag dry Great White Northern beans
carrots (chopped)
celery (chopped)
onions (chopped
bay leaf(s)
dried chili peppers (optional)
salt (to taste)
zapraska (see below)

Preparation
This is a basic recipe so feel free to figure out your own quantities. Just add everything to a large pot and cook below boiling for a few hours until the beans are soft. Great Northern beans will collapse and make their own “čorba” (stew). Our family recipe includes a flourless roux called zapraska to add a little peppery flavor. Serbs love their peppers. If your soup is watery you can add flour to the zapraska but you will have to cook the soup for another half hour for the flour to “cook.”

*Zapraska
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon paprika

Heat the oil in a small frying pan then add the paprika and stir, let it slightly darken, be careful to not burn it, then add to the stew.