I thought I was ready for this change of season. I thought I had enough beach time for the year and that I wanted my babes to be back in school and that I was tired of wearing my uniform of shorts and flip flops. And I’m not sure what I was thinking because those things are ALL LIES FROM THE PIT.
LIES!
I miss everything about summer and I am struggling to find much that I like about colder weather. Who likes shivering, anyway? {NOT ME}
**Side Note** Did you know that if you relax your butt you will stop shivering? It’s some kind of strange sorcery but it works. However, let me tell you this… relaxing your ass muscles is not an easy task unless it is your only task. You must weigh the importance of not shivering against being productive in any other way because there is no multi-tasking in that game.
But there ARE a few things I DO like about this time of year.
Soup.
Ok, maybe there’s just the one thing. So this will be a short post.
Soup is one of those meals that you don’t really need a recipe for to reach kitchen god status. It’s not rocket science – which is pretty fortunate since I can bet most of us are indeed NOT rocket scientists. You saute some onion and maybe some garlic. You throw in veggies and some stock. You taste as you go so that you don’t over (or under) season. Maybe you add some rice or some pasta or some meat. Whatever makes your toes curl, loves. Start trusting yourself a little more in the kitchen. Food is one of the most important things we do for ourselves and we should take the time to invest in our bodies instead of abusing them with terribly processed food. {GASP you don’t need to eat canned soup!}
I will not soapbox any more in this post. I’m done. Moving on…
I had a pretty crazy weekend and an even crazier Monday back at my day job… and it was cold when I picked up Ms. Lyric from dance class… and I just needed to be kind to myself… so the obvious choice was a hot toddy, soup and snuggles. Thanks to my roommate for the Toddy {You’re the BEST}, my babes for the snuggles and myself for the soup. Monday night turned out to be pretty fantastic.
My original intent with this White Bean + Rosemary beauty was to have a vegetarian dinner. But then I thought about bacon and I wavered instantly. However, you could easily make this vegetarian by omitting the bacon and substituting vegetable broth for the chicken broth!
Also – sorry for the lack of photographs of the process for this recipe. I just wanted to eat… but the result was so dang good that I wanted to share it with you. Because I love you all… and because: SOUP.
This beauty is an incredibly simple combination of onions, garlic, creamy white beans and earthy rosemary with the addition of traditional chicken stock and some lemon juice for brightness. And the bacon on the top? Yea… just because.
WHAT YOU NEED
serves 4
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs rosemary
4 15.5 ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
1 small lemon
kosher salt and black pepper
4 slices of cooked and chopped bacon
WHAT YOU DO
1. In a heavy bottom dutch oven or stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and stir. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so.
2. Add the minced garlic and stir. Cook for an additional minute and then add 2 rosemary sprigs still on the stem. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes more. Season with a little kosher salt.
3. Add the rinsed and drained cannellini beans and chicken stock and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove the rosemary stem and add the juice of one small lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Leave some texture to the soup so that you can still see some pieces of bean and rosemary. (if you do not have an immersion blender, you may use a food processor or a food mill set to the most coarse setting)
6. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
7. Garnish with chopped bacon, freshly ground black pepper and rosemary and drizzle with olive oil.
This soup is the perfect “what the crap is this weather, I don’t know what the heck to wear, I can’t relax my butt muscles” soup. It’s comforting without being heavy and I do hope that you will try it soon!
Let me know what you all are doing to stay warm these days!
