White Bean and Garlic Soup

White Bean and Garlic Soup We’re on the food tour of Italy today. Half way down the coast is Tuscany where food is often rustic. I make this Tuscan soup with plenty of cannellini beans and fresh garlic. At the end, I puree it and add a little bit of cream to make my Tuscan white bean and garlic soup rich and satisfying. Tuscany is located between the coast and the mountains. So for my white bean soup, I’m going to use both olive oil and butter. So, we’re going to use a little bit of olive oil and a little bit of butter, just like that. As soon as this melts, we’re going to start with the cannellini beans. The beans are one of my favorite ingredients. I toast them on the salads, I make purees out of them, I stew them, I put them in meat sauces—really anything at all. I’m going to start by just peeling my shallots here and shallots are very similar to onions, they’re just a little sweeter, so I love them. They don’t over power the soup. And Tuscan is known for a lots and lots of soups and they use a lot of beans in there food. So, this is very traditional, alright add a little bit of salt just to bring out the natural moisture in the shallots. Give it a quick little stir here. These are really quick soup and it’s great because you can make it on a weekend and keep it all week long. It’s super comforting, filling with lots of lots of flavor. I’m making this a lot easier on myself by using canned cannellini beans. The trick is you have to drain and rinsed them off, but you know what? They’re so easy to use, it cuts down a lot of time and they’re really good. So I’m going to add two cans of cannellini beans. I’ve already drained and rinsed them. Now, I’m going to add a little bit sage. The sage leaf—it’s a very robust flavor. It’s a very hearty herb. If you want to make sure and use it in these kinds of dishes, a very, heavier, part of your dish rather than something that’s really subtle, but one is enough. And four cups of chicken stock. Now, you could use vegetable stock, but the chicken stock gives it more body. It gives it a rich flavor. I just want to use low sodium chicken stock that way your soup doesn’t become too salty. So, we’re going to add a little bit of garlic here, four cloves actually and because I’m not going to actually chop them up, it will sort of give of a little bit of a hint of garlic in the background of the soup but it won’t over power the soup. And the thing about Tuscany that I love is that they cook with lots of butter and cream and cheese. It’s nice rich, comforting food which is different. If you go south where they use lots of tomatoes and olive oil. I’m just going to cut them in half, here we go and they’re just sort of kind of poach in the liquid, just like that. We’re going to add a little more salt. This is going to simmer for 10 minutes and in the meantime, I’m going to grill my Ciabatta. My Ciabatta is nicely toasted and that little bit of olive oil gives a nice golden color. I just love that smoky flavor and the crunch with the creamy soup. It is really good. So now, let’s see. This has been cooking, it looks good. I’m ready to puree it. So I’m just going to take my emergent blender and just stick inside and blend the soup. You can use a blender if you don’t have one of this handy gadget. Just be careful and don’t fill to the top because it’s hot liquid. Okay, perfect. It’s nice and pureed. Now it’s to add a little cream. I’m going to use half a cup of cream. It just going to make it nice and silky, nice and creamy and that velvety texture I was telling about that I really love, we’ll just add it right at the end. You don’t really want to cook it, just the heat will slowly warm the cream. Now we’ll add a little bit freshly ground black pepper right over the top just for a little bit. Just a little bit of a kick here, the pepper. Now, time to taste it. I got my bowl and little some in there. You think this was going to be a thick soup, but it’s not. It’s so comforting. Now, to finish it all, off I take a piece of my ciabatta. I dip it inside, you see just like that and I bite it. They’re crunchy ciabatta, soaked up, all the flavors in the soup. It is perfection. It’s a perfect reminder for Tuscany actually.