CookEat Recipe
Bean Soup with Toasted Bread
Cooked beans and their broth seasoned with an olive-oil soffritto and tomato, poured over toasted bread.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: 250 g dried thin-skinned white beans; About 1.75 litres fresh water for cooking, plus water for soaking; Quarter of an onion; 1 garlic clove; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 large pale celery stalk; 3 tablespoons olive oil; Black pepper and salt to taste; 2 tablespoons plain tomato passata, or 1 teaspoon tomato paste; 200 g day-old bread.
Step 2
Soak the beans in plenty of water in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight. Discard the soaking water and rinse. Cover with the fresh cooking water, boil vigorously for at least 10 minutes, then simmer until fully tender, usually another 45–75 minutes or longer for older beans. Keep the cooking liquid and add hot water as needed. Do not use a slow cooker for the initial cooking.
Step 3
Finely chop the onion, garlic, parsley and celery. Cook in the olive oil until the mixture begins to colour, seasoning generously with pepper.
Step 4
Add about two small ladlefuls of bean cooking liquid, roughly 250 ml, and the passata or tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then pour this seasoning back into the beans. Simmer together for about 10 minutes and adjust salt and liquid to make a brothy soup.
Step 5
Toast the bread in slices about 1.5 cm thick, then cut into cubes. Put in a tureen or bowls and pour the hot bean soup over it.
Step 6
For the optional greens, boil about 150 g stripped and chopped cavolo nero until tender, drain and simmer it in the soffritto liquid before returning everything to the beans. For a smoother soup, press some or all of the cooked beans through a sieve into their broth before adding the seasoning. Thin-skinned black-eyed peas may replace the white beans; cook until tender and adjust the cooking time to their package instructions.
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