Christmas Lima Bean Soup with Short Ribs and Porcini Mushrooms

I’m not sure why I don’t make soup more often. Generally, soup is:

- Easy
- Cheap
- A good way to use up neglected items from the pantry and fridge
- Still delicious when reheated (and soup makes plenty of leftovers to reheat)
- Difficult to screw up

Most of the above can also describe braised dishes, my favorite dishes to cook, but for whatever reasons, I rarely make soups. Last week a recipe for Lima Bean and Porcini Soup that appeared in the New York Times caught my eye because it looked simple enough and would require only a short trip to the store. I decided that for once, I would tackle a soup recipe.

I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand, using excellent Rancho Gordo Christmas Limas in place of traditional lima beans and short ribs in place of beef shanks. Also, my beans took nearly two hours to cook (due to not being soaked for long enough, I imagine), so the soup had more of a stew consistency than that of a soup. Nonetheless, the earthy, meaty flavors of the lima beans and mushrooms combined with the short ribs produced a hearty soup. Despite the Nor’easter that would be dumping snow upon New York later that night, this soup made me slightly sad that winter was almost over and that time was running out to try more soup recipes.

Here is the soup in the pot:


And in the bowl: