Traditional recipe for Spanish bean soup with a base of soaked legumes, vegetables, and meat stock perfectly blended with chopped chorizo.
A local hotspot in my hometown to enjoy traditional food is the Tampa Bay History Center.
The museum cafe is a mini version of the hugely famous Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.
Ybor City is the historical Spanish neighborhood just north of downtown Tampa that is home to many shops and restaurants along with at least one remaining cigar factory.
It’s also where I shop every week at an urban farm to obtain locally-grown, seasonal produce.
The recipe below for Spanish bean soup on the cafe placemats immediately caught my eye while enjoying a quick lunch on a family outing.
Everything about it was traditional from soaking the beans overnight to using beef and ham bones to make the soup broth. Alternatively, you can use meat stock as the base.
Even lard is used to fry the onion and bacon!
I thought I would share this recipe with you as it is simple and fast to make and one of the most delicious blends of meats, beans, and broth you will ever try.
If you live in Tampa or will be visiting soon, go and check this place out!
If you are in a hurry, it doesn’t seem that you need to gain entrance to the museum itself to sit down and enjoy a quick lunch.
Traditional Spanish Bean Soup Recipe
Traditional recipe for Spanish bean soup that nourishes with properly prepared legumes, vegetables, and a meat stock base blended with chopped chorizo.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Soak dried chickpeas overnight in a large bowl or pot with a tablespoon of sea salt dissolved in sufficient filtered water to cover. Use 2 cups of these presoaked chickpeas if preferred.
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Drain the water from the chickpeas and rinse in clean filtered water. Place chickpeas and bones in a large pot with 2 quarts of fresh, filtered water (or meat stock if omitting the bones). Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 45 minutes on low heat.
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Immediately after starting to cook the chickpeas, fry the bacon and onion in lard until the onion is caramelized. Add the bacon, onion, potatoes, and saffron to the pot with the simmering beans and bones.
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When the potatoes are soft, remove the pot of soup from the heat and add chorizo cut into 1/2-inch thick medallions.
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Remove the bones from the soup, add sea salt to taste, and serve at the table with an optional dollop of homemade creme fraiche.
Recipe Notes
Substitute lentils for the chickpeas for a GAPS diet friendly version.
This looks delicious!
Do you know what this soup is called in the Spanish language?
Great question! I have no idea!
Why does the picture show lentil soup with sliced hot dogs but the recipe calls for garbanzo beans and chorizo?
Per the recipe notes, lentils may be substituted for chickpeas for a GAPS friendly version. My husband has been on GAPS for many years and still cannot tolerate most legumes (only lentils, split peas and navy beans allowed on GAPS). This is my personal tweak only for my family’s needs … it was not on the restaurant menu as described in the post.
I second the recommendation for the Mitsitam Cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Most of the museums along the national mall have ok food, but this one goes above and beyond. It’s also great for people with food allergies as everything is labeled for common allergens (corn, gluten, dairy, etc) and most of the food is cooked at stations where you can actually ask questions of the chefs. I also recommend the cafe at the Sculpture Garden, which has nice salads, though they aren’t all organic so you have to choose carefully. The area around the national mall is otherwise a desert of hot dog stands and Starbucks, so we’re thankful for these two good options!
Is Columbias the same one in central Florida, Orlando Celebration, and St. Augustine? I made the soup tonight and it was a big hit! I had all the ingredients which made me happy! Thanks for the post.
Lisa
You may want to remind everyone that all these ingredients should be organic in nature otherwise they are subject to GM contamination and de-natured nutrients.
I plan to visit the History Center soon especially knowing that there is a bowl of delicious bean soup waiting for me there.
Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, OK also has WONDERFUL food in it’s cafe…buffalo, hand-made pasta, amazing desserts, etc that change with the season. It’s a little more than you would normally spend at a museum restaurant – but worth the price for the quality. It’s not at all what I was expecting when I visited with family. It also had a great view!
The museum is awesome too. Not a boring, left brained approach to museum displays with word heavy placards everywhere next to the exhibits, but living breathing exhibits that hit you from all 5 senses with personal guides asking for observations and pointing out very interesting cool stuff the whole way through. . I highly recommend it.
SFMOMA here in San Francisco has a lovely cafe. They even serve stew type dishes in winter all with ethically raised meats. They do sometimes serve potato chips but at least they have made them, themselves!
Add the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City) and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, KS). The on-site award-winning culinary school at Johnson County Community College prepares and serves wonderful lunches. And The Nelson-Atkins Art Museum, an exceptional experience, also serves ‘real’ food, on the lighter side. Check them out: http://www.nermanmuseum.org/ , http://www.kemperart.org/ , http://www.nelson-atkins.org/ .