Recipe: Garbure (Basque Vegetable Soup)

GARBURE (BASQUE VEGETABLE SOUP)
Source: The Basque Kitchen: Tempting Food from the Pyrenees by Gerald Hirigoyen with Cameron Hirigoyen
Servings: 6-8

Garbure, a vegetable soup, is such a popular dish in Anglet, a town next door to Biarritz, that it hosts an annual festival in the soup's honor. The event is sponsored by the local Confr rie de la Garbure (Brotherhood of Vegetable Soup). The members promote the traditions of true garbure to ensure they are carried on by successive generations. A hotly contested cook-off climaxes the festival. Garbure is made in every season, changing its character with whatever produce is available. The fall and winter version features root vegetables. When fava beans arrive in spring, they, too, are added. And in summer the soup contains green beans, tomatoes, and new potatoes. What should remain constant are the ham, white beans, and cabbage.

4 quarts water
2 cups dried white navy beans, soaked in water for 8 to 10 hours
1 bouquet garni
1 pound ham shank
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
1 medium celery root, peeled, and coarsely chopped
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium turnips, peeled, and coarsely chopped
1 pound butternut squash, unpeeled, seeded,
and chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 small cabbage, cored, and sliced into 1-inch-thick strips
3 leeks, trimmed, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup garlic cloves
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper
10 ounces haricot verts (green beans), trimmed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup cooked peeled fava beans

Place 4 quarts water, the white beans, the bouquet garni, and the ham shank in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the carrots, celery root, onion, turnips, squash, cabbage, leeks, garlic, salt, and pepper. Return to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Add the haricots verts and cook until just cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Add the fava beans and cook until they are just warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the bouquet garni and the ham shank. Discard the bouquet garni and reserve the ham shank. Remove meat from shank and add to soup or serve alongside.