Creamy White Bean Soup with Red Pepper Swirl
Serves four as a main course, six as an appetizer
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 large onions, diced
- 2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 6 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
- 6 cups freshly cooked or canned cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed well in a strainer if canned (3 15-ounce cans)
- 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, or 1/4 teaspoon
dried, crumbled
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- Generous seasoning freshly
ground white or black pepper
Red Pepper Puree:
- 1 cup roasted red peppers, freshly (about two) roasted* or from a jar, drained
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and sauté until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook 5 minutes, stiffing often. (The browning of these veggies will flavor the soup, so keep the heat high enough to achieve that color.)
Add the stock, beans, vinegar, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce
the heat to a simmer. Cook 20 minutes, or until the celery is very soft.
While the soup is simmering, make the red pepper puree. Combine the red peppers and garlic in a blender and puree. For a more subtle garlic taste, use roasted garlic instead of fresh. Scrap
the mixture into a small bowl. Rinse the blender (you're about to use it again).
In batches, puree the soup until it is perfectly smooth (or use an immersion blender http://vestavamps.com/kitchencrush.aspx). You can pour the pureed batches into a smaller saucepan at this point. The thickness of the finished soup should be like heavy cream; thin some with stock if it's too thick.
To serve, ladle the soup into small bowls or mugs. Spoon a generous mound of red pepper puree
in the center. Using a knife or toothpick, swirl the puree to make a lovely design, such as irregular radiating lines from the center.
*To roast fresh red peppers without a grill, cut in half, seed, and place on a baking sheet, outside (skin) up. Place the baking sheet on the top rack of your oven and put the broiler on. After a few minutes, the skin will start to blacken and blister. Take them out of the oven at this point, place
in a bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap, trapping the steam. Remove plastic wrap after
5 – 10 minutes. Once they're cool enough to touch, peel the skin off of them, and voila!
