White Bean Soup with Croutons and Bacon

Tags

bell pepper, cannellini beans, carrots, chicken stock, food, homemade croutons, recipe, soup, white beans, yellow onions

Happy Tuesday, my friends!

I don’t know exactly where each of you are in the world (though I know several of you are in Canada and the northeastern part of the US).

But wherever you are, if you are feeling like there is a chill in the air then you may be searching for some meals to make you feel cozy and warm at the end of the day.

Speaking of chilly days, have you put away your Halloween decor yet?

I’m hoping I can rally the troops after school today so we can get our spiders, grave stones and spooky skeleton hands tucked away until next year.

It’s part of my trying to stay on track with keeping organized and not letting my procrastinating ways get the best of me.

This morning I made a list to keep me on track for today.  It mostly involved returning phone calls and emails with a few appointments to make and a load or two of laundry.  There’s always laundry.

There’s something about a making a list, don’t you think?

Just going through each item and being able to cross something off makes me feel productive.

I’m on the hunt for pretty paper with which to make my daily to-do lists on.

Any ideas or web sites I should visit?

Pretty graphics and font styles make me happy, which in turn just makes a lengthy list that much better.  Well, a little better.

Shall we get back to cozy soup making?

This recipe is a variation of a recipe I found in The Silver Palate Cookbook for White Bean and Sausage Soup with Peppers.  I omitted the sausage and topped mine with homemade croutons and a crumble of bacon.

It was filling and we really enjoyed it.

To begin you’ll need to soak overnight 1 1/4 cup of dried white beans.  In a large Dutch oven, melt 4 tbsp of unsalted butter, then add 2 cups chopped yellow onions, 2 chopped carrots, and 2 cloves of minced garlic.  When they are softened, add 6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley, 1 tsp of dried thyme, 1 bay leaf and 4 cups of chicken stock or broth.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, and simmer partially covered.

Discard the bay leaf.  In the bowl of a food processor, add the drained beans and herbs and 1 cup of reserved broth.  Process until smooth.

Dice two red bell peppers. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat and saute until softened, but still crunchy.

Return the pureed soup to the Dutch oven and stir in additional reserved cooking liquid, 2 to 3 cups or until the soup is of the desired consistency.  Add sauteed bell pepper and stir to combine.  Heat the soup through over medium heat.  Taste and adjust seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I served my soup with homemade rustic croutons and crumbled bacon.  You can omit one or the other, but I thought they added that little something to each bowl.

Well, I’m off to work a little more on my Tuesday list including another load of laundry.

White Bean Soup with Homemade Croutons and Bacon

Recipe adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook

Ingredients

4 tbsp unsalted butter

2 cups chopped yellow onions

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

6 sprigs flat leaf parsley

1 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

4 cups chicken stock or broth

1 1/4 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight

2 red bell peppers, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

homemade croutons

crumbled bacon

Method

In a large Dutch oven, melt 4 tbsp of unsalted butter, then add 2 cups chopped yellow onions, 2 chopped carrots, and 2-3 cloves of minced garlic.  When they are softened, add 6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley, 1 tsp of dried thyme, 1 bay leaf and 4 cups of chicken stock or broth.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, and simmer partially covered about 25 minutes.

Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.  Discard the bay leaf.  In the bowl of a food processor, add the drained beans and herbs and 1 cup of reserved broth. Process until smooth and return pureed soup to Dutch oven, adding reserved cooking liquid, 2 to 3 cups or until the soup is of the desired consistency.

Saute the diced bell pepper in olive oil over medium heat until peppers are softened, but still crunchy.  Add them to the soup.   Heat the soup through over medium heat.  Taste and adjust seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with homemade croutons and crumbled bacon if desired.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings