Saucy Soups: Tuscan Bean Soup

Apple blossoms, tulips and daffodils

We arrived from our trip to find a paradise right at home. It was breath taking!

To say the least, we were behind in all our spring work. 300 trees had arrived on Earth day waiting to be planted and the blog needed to be posted. We had setup with Souper Dave, Mario, and Spencer, our California family to Skype and make Tuscan Bean Soup.

Here is the bio that Dave wrote for the blog - "I guess you can call me the "Souper" lawyer from Los Angeles, and the son of the Souper family of New York. I learned from Souper Sarah to make mental notes when I have a dish I really enjoy when dining out so that I can try to make it at home. That is how I came to this Tuscan Bean Soup recipe. I have enjoyed this kind of soup at a place I regularly go for lunch and set about to make it at home. After looking at a number of recipes, I finally found one that I thought was close, and then I modified it to create what I had in my mind's eye (or tastebuds!) After some refinements, I have arrived at a recipe that Mario, Spencer and I all love! And we all loved our cooking adventure with you today".

We both made the soup, Dave in LA and us here on the farm. It was fun getting our computers set up, so we could check on each step and see the process. Spencer (with his cars) and Mario would appear to be helpful for Dave! When it came to cover and cook for a couple of hours, Eric and I went out to plant blue spruces and then we were really ready for this satisfying soup. It was so delicious and such a hearty soup with the savory flavor of sage and rosemary capturing all the flavors of Italy!!!

Tuscan Bean Soup

Souper Dave/Souper Sarah

This classic Mediterranean soup is creamed with its own ingredients - no outside thickeners. The beans and vegetables gives it a sweet and earthy taste.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves 6-8

1 lb of cannelloni beans, picked over, soaked overnight (or 24 hours) in water and a tablespoon or so of kosher salt

2T Olive Oil

1/2 lb pancetta cut into 1/4 inch dice

1 medium onion chopped (small, but not quite a mince - I use the food processor)

2 medium carrots chopped (small, but not quite a mince - I do these in food processor with onions)

6 medium sized cloves of garlic minced

1 T fresh rosemary (from our front yard!), minced

2 T fresh sage chopped finely

1 bay leaf

8 C chicken broth

1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

Directions:
- Soak beans for 12 to 24 hours; drain and rinse

- In large dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat, and brown the pancetta until lightly crisped (about 10 minutes)

- Add onions and carrots and saute until softened (about 8 minutes)

- Add garlic, and saute for another couple of minutes

- Add rosemary, sage, bay leaf, beans, broth and tomato paste; increase heat and bring to a simmer

- Cover and cook for a couple of hours, until beans are tender. (Can also put in a 275 degree oven and cook as well, but when I have done this, a bit too much of the liquid dissipated, although the flavor was good and with a little water, leftovers made a very nice soup!)

Adjust seasoning, if needed, add fresh ground pepper and drizzle with olive oil, if desired.

I like to serve it with slices of baguette for dipping!!

Setting up for Skype

Soup ingredients

Beans soaking in salt water

Carrots and onions

Processed carrots and onions

Pancetta cut 1/4 inch dice

Browning the pancetta

Saute until soft

Bring to a simmer

Blue spruce seedlings

Digging hole for seedling

Soup is ready!

LA style

Farm style

Eating our soup together

We had a great time making soup with Dave,Mario & Spencer, even though we were many miles away. I thinkg Skype is a wonderful tool and I love seeing and talking to our family!!! I like the flavor of the pancetta and did not realize it was unsmoked bacon. We did not have to adjust the seasoning in our soup, I think soaking the beans in salt over night did the trick. I have not done that before when soaking beans, but will from now on. I’m learning new techniques every week!! This soup taste even better the next day as the flavor have more time to mellow and marry. Thanks Dave you are a great cook, as always it is so much fun to cook together and the soup was superb.