Delicious White Bean Soup with Veg

During this period of spending lots of time at home, we are trying to make the most of our cooking, go back to old recipes we haven’t made in a while but also those which are just easy and quickly to make. It is nice to share most meals together which is usually not always possible in our everyday life.

I have made this bean soup a few times in the last weeks and I have to say if you can, soak some white beans overnight and cook them and keep the bean water as it makes all the difference to the flavour of the soup, in my opinion. I usually cook an entire pack of beans and use almost half for this soup (we are bean lovers) and freeze the rest or eat it just with salt and olive oil for lunch on nice sourdough for instance. If you have forgotten to soak your bean you can of course also use beans in a jar and use veggie stock for liquid of the soup - no worries! But give it a try if you can :)

Recipe for 3-4 people

Soak one pack of white beans overnight and cook as it says on the package. Keep the bean water!! For this recipe we will need 150g - 200g of beans

3 fresh celery stalks cut into 2cm pieces

3 medium carrots halved and chopped into 2 cm pieces

1 medium fennel, halved and ideally chopped into medium-fine pieces with a mandolin slicer

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

3-4 medium potatoes peeled and chopped into 3 cm pieces

1 big handful of cocktail tomatoes, halved

2 small zucchinis, halved and chopped into 3 cm pieces

A big handful of cavolo nero, washed, stalk removed and chopped once

Good olive oil, salt & pepper

Heat up a pot with a few spoons of olive oil. Add the celery, carrots & fennel, fry for a few minutes, add garlic, turn down the heat, leave on for a few more minutes and stir, add a pinch of salt. If you have a few flat parsley leaves, you can also add them now. Add the potatoes and stir around for a few minutes. Add your bean liquid (so the veggies are well covered), add the tomatoes and let the soup simmer (not boil) for 10-15 minutes. Check if potatoes are cooked, you don’t want the veggies to be too cooked. Add zucchini and cavolo nero and cook for a few more minutes until zucchini is cooked, you don’t want it to be mushy, add your white beans. Take your hand blender and pulse 2-3 times until the soup gets a bit creamier. Serve with adding salt & pepper and some nice olive oil!

Enjoy!