Celebrating the Common Cannellini Bean

By Cathy Salter

One of the simple joys in life is a pot of homemade soup.  Winter, spring summer or fall, soup is always a welcome addition to a meal. Recently, I perused soup recipes in my kitchen library in an atlas-sized cookbook edited by Debra Mayhew called “The Soup Bible.” One recipe in the chapter titled “Hearty Lunch and Supper Soups” immediately caught my attention, because I had a pot of cannellini beans simmering on the stove and a colander filled with ripe tomatoes. 

The recipe was for a fresh tomato and bean soup.  To my delight, it specified not just any bean, but cannellini beans—large white Italian kidney beans about ½ inch long with firm texture and skin and a nutty flavor. Before long, a copper soup pot was called into action.

 To make this soup, tomatoes—sliced and seeds removed—are added to sautéed onions and crushed garlic.  Then add vegetable stock, sun-dried tomato paste, paprika, and cornstarch paste (for thickening) and simmer for 10 minutes.  The final ingredient added to the soup is a can of cannellini beans.  Garnish soup bowls with chopped cilantro, salt and ground pepper and serve with a slice of crusty ciabatta bread.

See more in this weeks Boone County Journal