White Bean Soup with Rosemary

This was a really yummy recipe we made a few weeks ago! It’s great for cold evenings and the leftovers make a great lunch. We did half the recipe for our meal and used the soup as a side dish. It would make a great dinner with some rustic crusty bread also. We did make two substitutions in ours. We used dried navy beans instead of the canned cannelloni. We prefer dried beans over canned because they are hardier and the texture is meatier instead of mushy. This does require you to soak the beans overnight though. We also used arugula instead of spinach. Arugula has a hardier texture and the leaf is a little thicker than spinach. Over all this was a super yummy meal and one we plan to repeat! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled, diced
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
5 garlic cloves, peeled, minced
1/3 cup white wine
3 (1-pound) cans white cannelloni beans, drained, rinsed
2 medium Yukon Gold or white potatoes, peeled and diced
5 to 6 cups organic chicken or vegetable broth
2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1 cup baby spinach leaves or escarole, washed
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Garnish
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or good Parmesan.

Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot, add onion and celery, then stir and sauté for about 5 minutes, until the onion is softened. Add the garlic and stir briefly (keep the garlic from browning.) Add the wine and 1 ½ cans of the white beans, and mash lightly with a potato masher. Add the remaining white beans, the diced potatoes, and the broth. Add the rosemary sea salt, and pepper to taste, then stir and bring to a simmer, cooking the soup for about 10 minutes.

Add the spinach and lemon juice, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Uncover and add the parsly right before serving. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Ladle into bowls. For garnish, drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top and pass around the freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Servings:
4 as main course
6 as appetizer or side

Recipe from Cooking by Moonlight by Karri Ann Allrich