I have been seeing a lot of white bean soup out there in the big virtual kitchen. Unfortunately, they have all been pureed. What about keeping those pump white beans together and creating a creamy soup? That is exactly what I did here.
One of my food goals for this year is to stop using canned products as much as possible. I am trying to cook up a batch of beans every other week and then tossing them into the freezer. Don’t be scared, you too can do this. It is simple. I soak the bean of choice overnight and then cook them the next day. I don’t add anything except a clove of garlic and some fresh herbs and water, of course. After I am finished cooking them, I drain them, put into containers and then into the freezer. We have fresh beans, which taste a lot better than canned, for at least a couple weeks. The texture and the taste is really outstanding and it is completely worth the time. This week the bean is the white bean!
Recipe: White Bean Soup
30 ounces of white beans or two cans of white beans
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 carrots, scrubbed and sliced into chunks
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups of veggie stock
fresh thyme, handful, gently crushed
kale, washed, dried and thinly sliced
kosher salt, to taste
good olive oil, to drizzle
Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add onion and carrots, cook for about 10 minutes, until soft. Add the beans, the stock and the fresh thyme. Cook for about 1 – 2 hours, depending on how crunchy you like the beans. I feel that the longer, the better as the flavor really develops. I cooked for 1 1/2 hours. During the last 15 minutes, gently smash with the back of a spoon or a masher. Don’t puree, you want texture. Right before serving, stir in the kale and gently warm for about 5 minutes. Season. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top. Serve. Eat.
4 comments
Yum!!! Like any person who actually likes cooking I didn’t have all the ingredients and totally improvised. I also cooked it in my crockpot which meant I got the delicious smell of the cooking soup all day long!
I threw in spinach, because that’s what I had. Chard would have been delightful too I bet!
Thanks,
Karen
Totally with you on the bean soup with substance. Why puree everything to be silky smooth when you can actually spend time enjoying the texture of real food.
I’m with you on the canned beans. In addition to getting a better quality product when you cook beans fresh, there’s also some cost savings (and nutrient preservation, I believe). And that’s not insignificant!
I’m trying to avoid canned beans now, too. This looks good — I love kale in soup.
Don’t you love beans? I made caldo gallego with Rancho Gordo yellow eye beans and it came out like this … no mashing needed. It was sooo good. This looks like the vegetarian version.