-Ridiculously high in fiber (using nutrition facts from my bag of white beans, a big serving has 28 grams of fiber! Thats a whole days worth!)
-Only 350 or so calories
-Lots of iron and calcium
-Tons of flavor - tastes creamy, without any cream!
I'm in love. I cut the oil in half, used small white beans (they were lower cal/higher fiber when i compared labels) and used FF chicken stock (homemade) and otherwise proceeded as written.
2 cups white dried cannellini beans
4 cups onions, sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large fresh rosemary sprig (6-7 INCHES)
2 quarts chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
In a medium bowl, cover the beans with water by at least 1 inch and leave them in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. Drain.
In a large stockpot over low to medium heat, saute the onions with the olive oil until the onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook over low heat for 3 more minutes.
Add the drained white beans, rosemary, chicken stock, and bay leaf. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, until the beans are very soft.
Remove the rosemary branch and the bay leaf. Pass the soup through the coarsest blade of a food mill, or place in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until coarsely pureed.
Return the soup to the pot to reheat and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
And if you want something a bit faster.... I made a a version of this that takes no soaking of beans and it, too is FABULOUS.
Sounds very similar, but I sauted some diced onions and celery in just a BIT of oil.... threw in a few diced carrots once for color, too. Then... after it was translucent, I tossed in some thyme and garlic...
then.. I used 2 jars of Great Northern White Beans (made by Randall) and the FF Chicken stock. And, once, to make it even more yummy.. I put in some small pieces of lean ham... YUM! Low points.... high fiber ... and SOOO good! And only took a short time to heat up. Just as good for leftovers, too.
You might find them under the name "white kidney beans" as well. Same thing as cannellini. Great sounding soup, I'll try this out sometime with veg stock for sure. I don't have a food processor, but I find with recipes like this that I can transfer half the soup to my blender when it's done cooking, puree, add back to the soup and it makes for good texture.
I used small white beans, which I think are a bit more common, and it worked just fine. Veggie stock would work great too, I'm sure - I have tried to make homemade veggie stock SO many times, but it always ends up tasting mildly curry-ish, and I have no idea why. Very strange.
I’m too lazy to make my own stock, I usually buy Imagine brand stock in the carton at Whole Foods. http://www.imaginefoods.com/products/product/1572.php It’s not too pricy (under $2 I think) and it’s 4 cups of good quality soup stock that requires no work.
Fabulous White Bean Soup!
