Tasty Tuscan White Bean Soup

It has been a long time since I have posted anything…too long.  We had an early March snowstorm and I just enjoyed a bowl of my latest creation–so I thought that I would share my recipe for Tuscan White Bean Soup. It’s vegan and gluten-free. 

Ingredients and supplies needed:

1. Two pounds of dry, white beans.  I used cannelini (or white kidney beans) but this recipe would also work with northern or white navy beans. 
2.   Mirepoix +: 1 pound of carrots, 1 large white/yellow onion, 6-8 celery stalks and about 10 cloves of garlic.
3. One smallish bok choy bunch.
4. One smallish bunch of kale.
5. One quart of vegetable stock.
6. Two 8 oz. cans of diced tomatoes (I prefer Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted).
7. Fresh herbs: can be rosemary, thyme, marjoram and/or oregano (I used rosemary and marjoram.)
8. About 10 peppercorns.
9. Balsamic Vinegar (about 2 T.)
10. Kosher Salt (I prefer Morton’s).
11.  Large soup pot.
12. Cheese cloth or equivalent for bouquet garni or seasoning bundle. (optional).                                                                                                                                       

• Sort through 2 pounds of dry, white beans to pick out any stones.  As my friend Eddie would say, “no matter how long you cook a stone, it will still be a stone.” 
• Put beans in a large pot and cover with about 2 inches of water.
• Add a sprig of rosemary (if available) and bring the water to a boil.
• Turn the heat off and cover the pot.
• Let it sit for 1 hour
  • This method allows you to make the soup in one day–you can also soak the beans overnight. If you do that, just use cold water. 
• While your waiting for your beans, you can start chopping vegetables for your Mirepoix+.
  • Dice onion (medium dice).
  • Slice each celery stalk in half the long way and then slice arches of celery.
  • Chop carrots into coins, 1/2 coins or 1/4 coins, depending on size of carrot.
  • Roughly chop garlic. 

The result should look something like this:

• You can also create your bouqet garni, if you decide to use one. Just put some sprigs of fresh herbs, the peppercorns and about a clove of garlic in some cheesecloth, or a tea ball like this:

After about an hour (or a little more) has passed, you will be ready to start adding ingredients to build flavor. At this point, you should add the following to your pot:

• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• one quart of stock
• About a quart of water
• All mirepoix +
• Bouqet Garni (optional).

Bring soup to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Stir occasionally.

• At this point you can slice the bok choy, green leaf and white stalk so that it looks like this:

After 1 hour of cooking, add the bok choy.

• Slice kale in a chiffonade by stacking up the leaves and cutting it into thin ribbons. After about another 45 minutes, add the kale:

Let that cook for another 45 minutes or so.  Taste the broth. Season generously with salt + pepper. Taste again.  Try a bean–make sure it’s soft all the way through.  Add a tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar. Let that cook for about 5 minutes and taste it again.  Season to taste.

  Enjoy!