A hearty, healthy, savoury soup fit for these autumn days. Stewed butter beans in a savoury broth studded with seasonal vegetables. We all need this booster of a soup right now! And it’s a
The great thing about this recipe is that pretty much any vegetable will work. Last weekend I harvest celeriac, carrots, leeks and escarole (andijvie in Dutch) and these all went in. Yum, what a flavour bomb! Would also be delicious with smokey bacon as an extra flavour addition!
Vegetable & Butter Bean Soup with Parmesan Cheese
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 2-3 tsp fresh thyme leaves (See notes)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 parmesan rind (optional, see notes)
- 1 leek, dark green parts discarded, thinly sliced
- ± 200 g carrots, chopped into small bitesize cubes
- ± 200 g celeriac, chopped into small bitesize cubes
- ±200 g escarole (andijvie in Dutch), finely chopped
- 2 cans butter beans, drained (no need to rinse)
- 750 ml water
- 1 vegetable or chicken stock cube (or just 750 ml stock)
- Pepper & salt to taste
- Zest of 1 lemon (optional)
- To serve: Fresh parsley, freshly grated parmesan, fresh crusty bread
Instructions
In a large heavy based pan heat up the oil and butter, when the butter is foaming add the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt. Sauté for 2-3 minutes until softened and then add the thyme, celery and leeks. Let it sauté on low heat for ± 5 minutes until the leeks have softened, don't let them brown.
Add the carrots and celeriac and stir to coat. Pour in the stock and add the bay leaves and parmesan rind (if using). Let simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.
Add the butter beans to the soup and let it simmer for another 5 minutes to cook the butter beans.
Add in the escarole and cook for 3-4 minutes.
With the back of a wooden spoon or potato masher mash a few of the vegetables and beans, this will thicken the soup slightly (but this is optional).
If you like you can grate in the zest of a whole lemon, but this is optional.
Taste and season with pepper and salt. Just before serving remove the bayleaves and the (by now) melted parmesan rind.
Serve with some fresh parsley and grated parmesan over the top and fresh crusty and buttered bread.
Notes
- Top tip: Don't throw your leftover parmesan rinds away but store them in the freezer and use them in soups, stews and sauces! Still gives so much flavour.
- Smoked bacon would also be great to add to this soup. Start the recipe by frying off the bacon until crispy first and then set aside. Remove some of the fat from the pan, leaving behing the crunchy good bits, then continue the recipe as mentioned above. Just before serving add the bacon back to the soup to heat through.
- I've also made this with fennel seeds and Caraway seeds before and works amazing too, just try what you have lying around.
