Eat something with a spoon

I can still hear mum saying: "It's lunch soon, wait until we sit at the table, you need to eat something with a spoon".  That is an integral part of Serbian daily nutrition, "eating with a spoon". There is always one dish that is cooked slowly for the whole family and eaten preferably at lunch around 4pm. Spoon symbolises wholesome warmth that brings everyone together.

Green bean soup can divide like marmite and I feel that is because most of the time it is cooked to its death. My kids love green beans, but there always needs to be some bite to them; if they are too mushy, they won't go near them. Hence I cook the soup half the time my mum would, leaving some chew to the green beans, but the flavour is intact.

Green beans soup

Feeds 4

1 onion, cut finely

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

600gr green beans

1 large tomato, peeled

1 tbs Hungarian sweet paprika

1 tsp flour

sour cream and parsley to serve

Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil over low flame for 10 minutes and sprikle a pinch of salt so they don't burn. Add stringed green beans and saute for 5 minutes before you add flour and paprika. Mix thoroughly, put the whole tomato in and pour enough water to cover everything. Increase the heat to bring everything to boil, then cover and simmer at low flame for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a dolop of sour cream, minced parsley and a slice of sourdough.