How do you feel about Italian food? Like it, love it, hate it? It is my most favorite type of food to eat. Nothing is yummier to me than Italian food...well ok...desserts, but I digress. So it's Italian food for supper tonight and I know what you're expecting, a big pile heavy of pasta right? Nope, not tonight! Let me introduce you to the yummiest Italian soup ever. This recipe is for one of our most favorite soups (yes, it's vegan). We eat it year round. It is seriously delicious, light, filling, and super easy to make. You serve it over garlic bread and will prolly want to eat more than one serving. We call it "Italian Soup over Garlic Bread." Real original, huh?
Ingredients:
Olive Oil
4 cans of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, divided in half
6 cups vegetable broth, divided
2 onions, diced
6 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
4-6 cups of greens (Your choice on quantity, some people like more some like less. Also I've used lots of variations of greens...boston lettuce, spinach, escarole, leafy green lettuce. This time I'm using kale. Find the green you like best and then use it here.)
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced (Trust me on the no seed part...it makes it gloopy if you leave them in, think stewed okra. We actually like stewed okra, but prefer not to have that texture in this soup.)
Garlic bread (We make our own garlic bread by using a fresh french loaf from the store, slicing it in half longways, brushing olive oil across, sprinkling minced garlic on top, and baking it in the oven at 350 degrees until it is the desired brown-ness...maybe 5-10 minutes? You can certainly use pre-made garlic bread if you'd like.)
Directions:
Make your bean puree by combining 2 cans of drained and rinsed cannellini beans and 2 cups vegetable broth in a food processor. Process until smooth and set aside.
1. Prep your items!
2. In a large pot saute your onions until soft.
3. Add in garlic, red pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and let cook a few minutes more.
4. Stir in your greens. Keep stirring until they have wilted.
5. Add in your remaining broth, diced tomatoes, remaining cannellini beans, and stir.
6. Add in your bean puree and season with more salt to taste.
7. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and allow to simmer for at least 20 minutes.
8. Break your garlic bread up into pieces and put in the bottom of your bowl, ladle your soup over your garlic bread, serve, and enjoy!
Let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it!
<3
Could you use canned diced tomatoes instead?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! What a fabulous idea! I can't believe I didn't think of that before...actually I can...I'm a hot mess. ;) Thanks for commenting with this idea! I would use maybe 1-2 15oz can(s) of diced tomatoes, depending on how many you'd like in your soup. And I always drain and rinse anything that comes from a can in order to get the best flavor.
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