Tuscan White Bean Soup With Sage Food

TUSCAN WHITE BEAN AND GARLIC SOUP

Steps:

• Place a medium, heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the butter, olive oil, and shallot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sage and beans and stir to combine. Add the stock and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the garlic and simmer until the garlic is softened, about 10 minutes. Pour the soup into a large bowl. Carefully ladle 1/3 to 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful to hold the top of the blender tightly, as hot liquids expand when they are blended. Pour the blended soup back into the soup pan. Puree the remaining soup. Once all the soup is blended and back in the soup pan, add the cream and the pepper Keep warm, covered, over very low heat.
• Place a grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle the slices of ciabatta bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Grill the bread until warm and golden grill marks appear, about 3 minutes a side. Serve the soup in bowls with the grilled bread alongside.

"SUPER-TUSCAN" WHITE BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Cook the beans: Rinse the beans, place in a saucepan, and add cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, and remove from the heat. Let stand for about 20 minutes, then drain.
• Return the beans to the saucepan along with the prosciutto, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf. Pour in the chicken stock and then add water as needed to cover the beans by 2 inches. Slowly bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. (If you heat them too fast, the skins may break.) Adjust the heat to maintain a bare simmer and cook, uncovered, until the beans are almost tender, 20 minutes or longer, depending on the age of the beans. Add salt, to taste, and continue cooking until the beans are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and let the beans cool in the liquid.
• Meanwhile, make the bruschetta: Preheat a stove-top grill pan. Place the bread slices in a single layer on the grill pan and toast until each side is crisp and has grill marks, about 6 minutes. (You can also toast the bread in a 500 degrees F oven on a baking sheet.) Remove from the pan and lightly brush the bread slices on both sides with olive oil, then season lightly with salt. Let cool.
• Strain the cooled beans and other solids through a sieve, reserving the liquid. In a food processor, puree the beans and solids in batches with 3 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Using a rubber spatula, push the solids through a fine mesh sieve into a clean large saucepan (you should have about 6 cups of soup in the saucepan). Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, then bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, in a small skillet over high heat, warm the 1/4 cup olive oil. Turn on the fan above your stove. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to turn brown. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for a few seconds, then add the basil. Cook until basil wilts.
• To serve, ladle the hot soup into warmed bowls. Top the soup with the basil mixture. Serve bruschetta with each bowl, adding Parmesan, if desired.

HEARTY TUSCAN WHITE BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a 4 quart soup pot over medium heat.
• Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery and thyme and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and bay leaf.
• Drain the beans and roughly mash 1/2 a can of beans. Add the beans and mashed beans to the pot.
• Squeeze the water from the thawed spinach and add to the pot.
• Season with salt and pepper and simmer for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes.
• Add the macaroni and cook until tender according to package directions. (About 10 minutes.).
• Serve sprinkled with grated parmesan and/or pecorino romano.

TUSCAN WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH HAM AND KALE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ham, onion and garlic and cook 3 minutes, until onion is tender.
• Add sage and cook 1 minute, until sage is fragrant.
• Add broth and beans and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes.
• Add kale and cook 1 minute, until kale wilts.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.

TUSCAN WHITE BEANS WITH SAGE

Steps:

• Saute the onion, garlic, and carrots in the olive oil until the onions are translucent. Add in the sage, cook until aromatic.
• Add the can of tomatoes, heat through.
• Add the white beans, return to a simmer, and simmer as long as you like (the longer, the yummier, honestly!).
• Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice.
• This dish holds up well to slight modifications. I have put in a stalk of celery, diced, with the onions and carrots. I have added a little dried rosemary with the white beans. All quite tasty. For omnivores, this dish is delicious with a few shrimp sauteed in butter and garlic served on top.

GIADA'S TUSCAN WHITE BEAN AND GARLIC SOUP

Steps:

• In a large soup pot, saute shallots or onion and garlic with butter and olive oil until soft, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add drained beans, sage, and broth. Bring to a simmer and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• If using an immersion blender: blend soup until smooth. If using a regular blender: pour half of mixture into blender and puree until smooth. Pour blended soup back into pan and blend remaining soup, then pour the rest of the blended soup back into pan.
• Add cream, black pepper, and salt to taste. Keep warm over very low heat!

TUSCAN VEGETABLE SOUP WITH FRESH SAGE

Steps:

• In a soup pot heat up the olive oil on low-medium heat and lightly saute the sage leaves; about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon, remove leaves from pot and set aside. In same pot, saute the garlic until soft, only a minute or two.
• Add the green peas, green beans, zucchini, carrots, potato and cannelini beans. Stir mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Add the vegetable broth and red pepper flakes. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15-20 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide and ladle the soup into 4 individual soup bowls. Garnish each serving with the sauteed sage leaves.
• Enjoy immediately! Don't forget the Italian bread and pop in a Bocelli CD (Furtiva Lagrina on the Viaggio Italiano recording) while you're at it!