Confession. When the weather is chilly and I don't have to feed anyone but myself, I pretty much live on soup for dinner. Just give me a slice of crusty bread and a big bowl of hot, preferably creamy, soup and I'm good till breakfast. Is that weird?
It does help, though, if the soup has some substance because I doubt that a cup of plain broth would quite cut it. So soup with stuff is the key to a satisfying dinner. Sort of a cross between a soup and a stew and stuff, to me, means vegetables for sure but beans are a great addition to soup. Pureeing them a bit also makes for amazing creaminess without the slightest bit of cream.
Yield: 8 Servings
White Bean Stew with Bacon
Prep time: 25 MCook time: 30 MTotal time: 55 M
Recipe for a thick, creamy, bean and bacon stew.
Ingredients:
- 4 Strips thick cut bacon
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 Onion, peeled and diced
- 2 Stalks celery, diced
- 2 Large carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
- 4 Cups chicken stock
- 4 Cups white beans, cooked
- Chopped chives for garnish (optional)
- Grated Parmesan cheese for garnish (optional)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Cook the bacon in a large soup pot, on medium heat, until crispy. Place the bacon on a paper towel lined plate to drain off all but a tablespoon of the bacon fat.
- Add the diced onion, celery and carrots and saute for a few minutes until slightly softened. Push the vegetables off to the sides of the pot, melt in the tablespoon of butter and whisk in the flour.
- Whisk in the chicken stock and add the beans. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes. Using a stick blender (you can use a regular blender as well), puree about half the soup but leave it as chunky as you like. You can do this with a potato masher but the consistency will not be as smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve hot with a sprinkling of chives, grated Parmesan cheese and the crumbled bacon.
This is on our dinner menu for the upcoming week. I wondered if you used canned beans or cooked off dried beans. If you used dried, can you share how you prepared them?
ReplyDeleteThank you!
In this recipe I used canned beans because they get enough time in the liquid to get tender and absorb flavor. If you do want to cook beans from dry, I would rinse and drain them, then soak them in boiling water for an hour. Drain again and then cook them for 30 minutes to soften up. Then continue with this recipe. I hope you enjoy the stew!
DeleteI did end up making this recipe using dried beans. I used two cups dried beans, soaked them overnight, drained them, and then cooked them using rosemary, garlic & olive oil. I simmered them for about 30 minutes. 2 cups dried yielded more than the 4 cups cooked, so I added the remainder of the beans after I semi-pureed the soup. This is a wonderful, comforting soup. So good.
DeleteThank you for coming back and telling me your experience with the recipe. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
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