Time is on the side of this soup; it mellows with a day or two in the refrigerator, and freezes well.
Seasoning is totally your call and it can have as much attitude as you’d like, as in these warm-tasting spices of the West Indies and a garlic-tomato sauté.
You can vary the amount of water in this recipe in accordance with whether you want a proper soup or a more stewlike consistency.
The soup is good fresh from the pot, but even better for a day or 3 or 4 in the fridge. Refrigerates up to 6 days and freezes for 4 months.
Barley is a great substitute for risotto, especially when you don't have a lot of time to spend stirring the pot.
When measuring flour, don't densely pack measuring cups. Instead, spoon flour from a master batch into a measuring cup, and use a straight edge to level.
Serve each half squash filled with a generous scoop of bean soup.
If beans aren't the world's most ubiquitous vegetable, they should be.
Ingredients
The canned-soup-with-stuff casserole in general became an American classic in the early part of the twentieth century, thanks to the recipes created and publicized by the Campbell Soup Company. In 1955 Campbell hit the jackpot—creating the most popular casserole of all time, the classic Green Bean Bake, made with Campbell's cream of mushroom soup and topped with fried onions from a can. Things don't become classics because they're bad—and the combination of ingredients in this dish is really quite delicious. That's not to say that a tweak or two can't improve it. Try the following version with fresh-fried shallots and dried tarragon thrown into the mix. It's irresistible! This version respects the fifties taste but is so much brighter and more layered in flavor. The soy sauce, by the way, was part of the original recipe.