White beans can fill out a soup in a variety of ways. This simple recipe has a surprise ingredient that gives the soup a distinctive taste: fennel. And since fennel lends itself to fish and seafood, some fish can always be added before serving to make it more of a meal.
The recipe is simple because this version uses canned beans, rather than starting with soaking and boiling dried beans, and everything goes in the pot and cooks for a short time.
We like our bean soup on the thick side, so for the broth for this recipe I used one of my containers of thick chicken (or turkey) stock (see 9 November 2010 for recipes) and one of regular stock. However, if using regular chicken stock, pureeing part of the soup and adding that back into the pot can achieve the same thicker effect. Alternatively, cutting down the broth to 4 cups would also make a thicker soup.
Ingredients
I medium fennel bulb1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups chicken broth
20 cloves garlic, chopped
Pinch of thyme
Bay leaf
¼ cup chopped parsley
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
2 cups chopped canned tomatoes
2 15 ounce cans white beans, undrained.
salt and pepper
Directions
1. Remove tops and stalks of fennel. Save fronds. Chop bulb.
2. Put chopped fennel, onions, garlic and herbs in soup pot with broth.
3. Simmer until vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, beans, salt, pepper and fennel fronds. Soup is done when all ingredients are hot.
