Creamy Tomato Bean Soup

Recipe courtesy of Recipe Tin Eats

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
• 1 onion, finely chopped (brown, yellow or white)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, large, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp Italian herb mix OR other dried herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, or mixed)
• 3/4 cup tomato paste (Note 1)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine , optional (can omit)
• 4 cups stock/broth, chicken or veg , low sodium
• 3 15oz cans cannellini or any white beans, drained & rinsed (navy, butter, great northern, lima) (OR 2 cups dried beans, 5.5 cups cooked, Note 2)
• 1/2 cup (50g) parmesan , grated
• 1/2 tsp. EACH salt and pepper
• 4oz baby spinach (or 5 – 6 cups any other leafy greens OR 4 cups diced veg, Note 3)
• 3/4 cup cream, heavy/thickened

Instructions

1. Melt butter in a pot over medium high heat. Cook garlic, onion and carrot for 5 minutes until carrot is soft and sweet.
2. About 3 minutes in, add the Italian herbs and cook with the onion (makes the herb flavor “bloom”).
3. Turn heat up to high, add tomato paste. Cook for 2 minutes to remove the “raw” flavor.
4. Add white wine, cook for 3 minutes until the harsh “winey” smell is gone and mostly evaporates so you’re just left with tomato paste again.
5. Add 1/2 cup of beans (to thicken soup), stock, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir, low heat, cover and simmer 3 minutes, stirring every now and then.
6. Use a stick blender to puree until smooth (or transfer to blender).
7. Add remaining beans, simmer 3 minutes. Stir in spinach until wilted, then stir in cream if using. Add more salt and pepper if needed (note: canned beans are already salted).
8. Serve with crusty bread for dunking!

Notes

1. Tomato paste works best here to provide intensity of tomato flavour. Can be substituted with canned tomato. You will need 800g/14 oz crushed or diced canned tomato OR Tomato Passata , reduce the stock per recipe down to 3 cups (750ml). Skip the tomato paste, but still use wine if you can (great for flavour). Add tomato with stock, only add 1/4 cup of beans to thicken soup, then simmer for 10 minutes with LID OFF before pureeing. Then proceed with recipe
2. Beans – any white beans will work great here. Navy beans, lima, butter beans. Other color beans (kidney beans, pinto, black beans etc.) will work just fine but the color of the soup broth may be a bit different (from pureeing a bit into the soup)Recipe should also work great with any canned or cooked dried lentils (any color) and dried split peas – again, just that the color of the soup will be different!
3. DRIED BEANS (navy, cannellini or other white beans) – you will need 2 cups of any dried white beans.
   1 can = 1 3/4 cups beans once drained
   Recipe calls for 3 cans = 5 1/4 cups beans
   1 cup dried beans = 2 3/4 cups cooked
   So you will need 2 cups dried beans (2 x 2.75 = 5 1/2 cups cooked beans)

Nutrition

Calories: 536cal (27%) Carbohydrates: 58g (19%) Protein: 25g (50%) Fat: 23g (35%) Saturated Fat: 13g (81%) Cholesterol: 68mg (23%) Sodium: 2594mg (113%) Potassium: 1398mg (40%) Fiber: 14g (58%) Sugar: 9g (10%) Vitamin A: 6757IU (135%) Vitamin C: 23mg (28%) Calcium: 336mg (34%) Iron: 6mg (33%)