White Bean Soup with Pistou
(Does NOT include optional slice of bread.)
Calories 320 (17% from fat)
Fat 6.2 gram
Saturated Fat 0.5 gram
Trans Fat 0 gram
Cholesterol 1.7 mg.
Sodium 417 mg.
Carb. 57 gram
Fiber 16 gram
Sugar 6 gram
Sugar Alcohol 0 gram
Protein 18.4 gram
Ingredients
2 lbs. (32 oz.) great northern white beans, soaked for six hours (or overnight)
3 large onions (6 cups), chopped
8 cloves garlic (8 tsp.), minced
3 bay leaves
3 sprigs of fresh sage
10 cups water, as needed
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper, ground
Pistou Ingredients
2 1/4 cups fresh basil leaves (lightly packed)
1/4 cup parmesean cheese, grated
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves (2 tsp.) garlic, crushed
1/4 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. sodium free, salt alternative
(We used No Salt.)
Optional
1 Slice of Toasted Bread per serving for taste.
1. Start by soaking the beans in a pot of water for at least six hours, preferably overnight.
2. Combine the beans, onion, garlic, bay leaves, sage and water in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Add salt, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stir approximately once every 20-30 minutes. When finished beans should be tender and the broth fragrant.
3. Remove bay leaves and sage sprigs, then stir in the black pepper.
4. Take batches of the soup and put them in a blender and process until it's smooth. Repeat until all the soup has been blended. (If you have an immersion blender, you can simply insert it in the soup and puree everything until it's smooth right in the cooking pot.)
5. To make the pistou, put all the pistou ingredients into a blender or food processor. (Fresh basil leaves, parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and salt alternative.) Process everything until it's thoroughly combined, about 30-60 seconds. When finished add approximately 1.5 teaspoons of pistou to each serving of soup.
Yield: 12 Servings - 1.5 Cups Each with Approximately 1.5 tsp. Pistou per Serving
You can freeze individual portions for easy re-heating later.
Microwave the soup for approximately 3-4 minutes, keeping the container open a little to allow steam to escape.
