There Bean soup is a low calorie vegetarian first course, perfect to prepare when temperatures drop. It is a tasty dish that can be made even more substantial simply by adding croutons or slices of homemade bread. This soup is a typical traditional Italian recipe of which there are several variations and which change from region to region: the spelled and bean soup, a typical Tuscan dish, or the bean soup with pork rinds which is part of the Roman tradition. The best combination for legumes are cereals, in practice the famous ‘unique dishes’ such as the timeless Pasta and beans or the Pasta and lentils. So to stay in this enveloping climate, try your hand at preparing this delicacy!

Preparation

1

Take the dried beans and place them in a bowl with water, which must exceed the legumes by at least 5 fingers.

2

So leave the beans soaked for a minimum of 6 hours to a maximum of 12; then rinse them under running water. This operation can be skipped if you have ready beans.

3

Take a pan, add the extra virgin olive oil, the celery cut into pieces and the chopped onion; fry for a few minutes over medium heat.

4

Pour the tomato sauce into the pan, or for those who prefer tomato pulp or even cherry tomatoes.

5

Mix the ingredients and cook for a few minutes.

6

At this point, add the washed and drained beans to the tomato sauce.

7

Cover the beans completely with the vegetable broth and add a bay leaf inside.

8

Cover the pan with a lid and let the soup cook over very low heat for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

9

After this time, season the cooked vegetables with salt and pepper and season with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil before serving the soup.

Accessories

• Bowl
• Colander
• Knife
• A saucepan with a lid
• Ladle

Tips and tricks

• If you want you can add ingredients such as peas or potatoes to the bean soup.
• If you don’t have time to let dry beans soak for 12 hours, you can make Bean Soup faster by using ready-made canned pinto beans.
• If at the end of cooking the bean soup is too thick, you can dilute it with other hot vegetable broth; if on the contrary it should be too liquid you can take some beans from the soup, mash them with a fork until they are reduced to a puree and add them back to the pot.
• For those with a sweet tooth who would like to make this soup even tastier, we recommend adding 100 g of chopped smoked bacon to the sautéed vegetables.
• How about trying it also with cannellini beans, black cabbage, endive, cabbage or pumpkin.

storage

Leftover Bean Soup can be stored in the refrigerator for 2/3 daysclosed in an airtight container.