The Bean Supporter's Miso Brown Butter Bean Soup
I'm so excited to share this guest blog post from holistic chef and bean influencer, Madeline Schapiro — aka The Bean Supporter. If you aren't subscribed to her Substack yet, do it now. Her recipes are innovative and health-forward, with amazing flavors that will keep you coming back for more. When she shared this recipe for Miso Brown Butter Bean Soup — which also doubles as a pasta sauce — I was over the moon.
— Lisa, Chief Bean Officer
As a holistic chef, my focus is on letting the ingredients shine and creating nutritious recipes without too much fuss, but plenty of legumes.
I remember when I first tried the Primary Beans Baby Butter Bean, it was in a bean taste off a year ago comparing various brands of butter beans, blind, and these were my favorite. Sweet, subtle, creamy, perfect.
When Lisa reached out to me and told me that in this month's grain and bean club they were highlighting the baby butter bean, I knew exactly what I had to make. My miso brown butter bean soup, that doubles equally as a sensational pasta sauce.
I first developed this recipe as a bit of an accident, I let my beans overcook, as I had forgotten how quickly these beans cook up if soaked first, and returned to my stove to a Dutch oven of bean mush, but wow was this bean mush amazing.
I decided to play up the strengths of these beans highlighting them with bits of sweetness from the miso and creamy earthy brown butter, and this luxurious soup was born.
I love this served with a nice crusty sourdough bread, or even some sourdough croutons and extra brown butter and a few toasted pine nuts on top.
It is also wonderful topped with a shaved arugula and fennel salad for a brighter and lighter finish.
As for the leftovers, they store in the fridge for 5 days, and freeze wonderfully. My favorite way to use them is actually as a pasta sauce. Cook up your favorite pasta, use this soup as you would use an alfredo sauce, finish with fresh cracked pepper, and a bit of parmesan and you will have a version of cacio e pepe you never knew you needed.
For recipes like this and more:
Find me at Luxury of Legumes on Substack
Or
Bean.Supporter on wherever your social media application of choice.
Peace, love, and beans,
Bean Supporter
Notes From The Bean Supporter
For this recipe, the beans are so fresh, I've decided to forgo soaking them. I want a recipe you can make after work without any prep. If soaking, reduce the 9 cup water quantity, or you will have a thinner soup (likely reduce to 7 cups of water for cooking).
Making Brown Butter
My butter browning practice comes most from scent. It will smell like true love when it is done (butter and nutty). You will want to keep the butter moving in the pan until the butter begins to turn golden, the foam on top begins to deflate. You will see little brown flecks at the bottom of the pan, these are the milk solids that have toasted. This should take about 3-5 minutes.
About Our Baby Butter Beans
Also known as baby lima beans — but these are not your mom's lima beans! Our Baby Butter Beans are our best seller and everyone's favorite for good reason: they're the freshest and most flavorful you will ever taste, with a subtle sweetness and vegetal notes that shine in a light-bodied, herbal broth. Pair them with tomatoes, sweet peppers, grassy olive oil, and fresh herbs in everything from stews to gratins.
Sacramento Valley has a long history of producing butter beans, thriving in its warmer climate compared to other California regions. Chris Capaul's family has been growing diverse beans and vegetables here since 1915 — he still has the original horse-drawn bean cutter! While bean production has declined and farms have consolidated and grown larger, Chris stands out as an innovator, perfecting his rotation of vine-type baby butter beans and rice and preserving Speckled Bayo beans, a rare variety his father once grew. His careful growing methods nurture the land and produce beans far richer in flavor. Non-GMO, never sprayed with glyphosate, and grown with soil-boosting rotations that support healthy watersheds and natural weed control.
Related Recipes
The Heirloom Bean + Grain club
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Miso Brown Butter Beans Soup
The Bean Supporter
6-8
Soup
This fast and easy recipe doubles as a soup and a protein packed pasta sauce, highlighting the baby butter beans with bits of sweetness from the miso and creamy earthy brown butter.
Ingredients
1 lb Primary Beans Baby Butter Beans
10 cups water
1 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic
1 strip kombu (if using flat sheets about 1”x4” strip)
3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
3 Tbsp White Miso Paste
Directions
Add dry beans, salt and water to a pot on high and bring to a boil. This will take roughly 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add in kombu and garlic. Cook beans for 1.5 hours, you want the beans to be extremely soft and tender, they are going to be blended.
In a heavy bottom saucepan at medium heat, add your butter and cook until caramel color, about 3-5 minutes. See full description above.
Add browned butter and white miso into the pot of beans and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can blend in stages in a blender, but blending is necessary for best texture.
Serve warm and garnish with toasted bread and pine nuts.