White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup

This is fast becoming a soup blog, but we’ve had some good luck with them lately (and some good reader response), so here’s another one.

If you read the recipe below, you’ll notice two bulbs of garlic. That said, the roasting really mellows the flavor–the garlic is powerful but more warming than sharp or pungent.

The pureed white beans make this a hearty, filling soup that can easily be the centerpoint of a meal. Rustic bread and carrot sticks are a good accompaniment.

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup
(from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan with a Vengeance)

Serves 6

2 Tb Olive Oil
1 medium-sized onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon salt
A few dashes fresh black pepper
1/2 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
4 cups vegetable broth, or 2 boullion cubes dissolved in 4 cups water
3 cups cooked great nothern beans, drained
3 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste
2 heads garlic, roasted*

In a stockpot over medium-high heat sauté the onions in the olive oil for 5–7 minutes.

Add the salt, black pepper, and fennel seeds; sauté for 1 minute. Add the broth, beans, sage and bay leaf, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Add the reasted garlic and purée in batches using a blender, food processor (or, ideally, all in one batch using a stick blender). Add lemon juice. Garnish with fresh fennel leaves if you have some and/or some peeled carrot and/or parsley.

*Isa recommends cooking the garlic in its skin for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Sarah followed this advice, but peeling/squeezing 30+ cloves of garlic isn’t much fun. We’d suggest the method outlined here, which we’ve used before. While requiring more instruction, it’s actually easier and less time consuming.