This white bean soup recipe is one of Cait and Morris' favorite soups! It is easy to make and doesn't take too long. Many of the ingredients are things you would have on hand. You will need to buy dry sherry (in the wine and liquor section of the supermarket) but it is an important ingredient and well worth it. The ingredients are as follows:
1 cup chopped onion (about one large onion)
1 garlic clove minced or pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red or yellow bell pepper (optional)
1 bay leaf
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel (I use fennel seed and mince it)
1 medium potato
2 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (you can get away with bottled lemon juice)
2 cups vegetable stock or water (I use vegetable stock)
2 cup undrained canned white beans (use the whole 16 oz. can)
ground black pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley (I rarely add this)
Before you start cooking, prep the vegetables. Chop onion and mince garlic and set aside. Chop the bell pepper if you are adding that to the soup. I've made the soup without bell pepper and it is fine. Cube the potato and set aside. Because ground fennel is difficult to find, I use fennel seed and mince it with a knife. I usually use a little more than 1/2 tsp. (more like a tsp.) since it isn't ground and I want as much fennel flavor as possible. You won't be able to get the fennel as fine as if it was ground so don't worry about that.
Use a soup pot and saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil stirring often so they do not burn. I usually saute them for about 5 minutes. Add the bay leaf, fennel, pinch of salt, and bell pepper to the pot and saute for another 5 minutes or so. Keep stirring. Add the potato to the pot along with the sherry, lemon juice, and stock or water (highly recommend vegetable stock). Cover the pot and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. I usually cook for 20 minutes so the potato is soft. Don't boil but simmer lightly. Stir in the beans and gently reheat. Add black pepper to taste.
Special notes: The recipe calls for undrained beans but I don't like using the liquid the beans are canned in. I usually rinse the beans off before adding them to the pot. Also I don't use canned vegetable stock. I use the Knorr Vegetable Cubes and usually add one to the soup along with the 2 cups of water. These vegetable cubes can usually be found in the soup section of the supermarket and come six to a package.
The soup makes 4 serves at about 175 calories per serving. It is really good the next day too even though some people I know don't like leftovers!!
