Greek White Bean Soup (Fasolάda)

This Greek bean soup, made without meat, is traditionally made from dried white beans, but you use canned white beans, drained and rinsed.* Serve with some Kalamata olives on the side, as well as crusty bread.

Ingredients:

1 pound of dried white beans (or 4 cans of drained and rinsed white beans)
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tomato, diced
2 carrots, shredded or chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large stalk of celery, with top leaves, chopped
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chicken stock + water to cover ingredients (see instructions)
parsley for garnish

If using dried beans, soak them in cold water overnight. Drain and put the beans into a pot with fresh cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Drain again, add fresh cold water and chicken stock, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to keep a full simmer, cook the beans for 10 minutes, then add the onion, carrot and celery, stir well. Continue simmering the soup for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the diced tomato and tomato paste, stirring well. Cook until the beans are nice and soft. Don't be afraid to add more water, if the soup is too thick. When the beans are soft, then stir in the olive oil, salt and pepper. Garnish each serving with parsley. If using canned beans, bring chicken stock, some water, onion, carrot, celery, tomato and tomato paste to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans and more water to cover, stir well, return soup to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until carrot is definitely tender. Stir in salt, pepper and olive oil. Garnish servings with parsley.

* I looked over numerous recipes for this soup, and some used navy beans, some used great northern beans, and still others used cannellini beans.

WORD HISTORY:
Acme-This word, related to "acne," goes back to Indo European "ak," which had the notion, "be pointed, be sharp." This gave Ancient Greek (the transliterated form) "akme," meaning, "peak, pinnacle." This was borrowed by English in the mid 1500s, although the word did not come into somewhat more general use until the late 1600s. It eventually came to be used by some businesses as part of their name to signify "the best," "the peak in quality," in whatever product or service they were selling.