Two nights ago yours truly was minding her own business, making dinner in her aptly named kitchen, when the power shut off.
The San Francisco Bay Area is known for many things. Elderly housing is one of them: at 66 years old, the IK is a comparative youngster. Nevertheless, the electrical system was built during the last century, rendering it ill-equipped to handle the demands of modern life. And here was yours truly, using the overhead light, the stove, the washer and dryer (in the garage, but still), and the kicker–streaming Apple music on the cell phone, which was plugged in to one of the kitchen’s four outlets. The fuse box was having none of this. It blew, taking the kitchen fixture with it.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Repairs and replacements are scheduled. Meanwhile, I cook by the light of a bedroom lamp.
—
While white bean soup with carrots and garlic may be prepared as is, please use the recipe as a blueprint: this is a soup benefiting from additional vegetables, legumes, and meats. This doesn’t mean treating the soup like a garbage bin. Be thoughtful. Then again, you’re here, which indicates you are an individual of discernment.
Before adding anything to the soup, it is wise to sweat the aromatics. Sweating, in this context, is unrelated to how we’re responding to the news. It means gently cooking our carrots, garlic, and some onions in butter, thus creating a flavor base for the soup.
Can you skip sweating the aromatics? Just dump everything into the pot and grab a beer? Yes, you can. The finished soup won’t be as good, but it will still be okay. More than okay, just not as savory. If you go this route, and people complain, tell them they can make dinner.
Once the aromatics are sweated, the remaining ingredients are added, along with the broth, which can be chicken, vegetable, or water. Bring the soup to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally, checking the beans for doneness.
About those beans. I am still an inexperienced bean cook. Also a nervous one. Do dry beans going into soup require a pre-soak? Further, once the beans are in the soup, when is it safe to salt?
Many were the cookbooks consulted, and many were the opinions when one should salt beans, in soup and out. In the end, I soaked the beans for two hours, added them to the soup, and waited until they were cooked through before salting.
By this point the soup was done and I could have taken it off the heat, but we’ve yet to discuss potential additions to white bean soup, so let’s backtrack a bit.
White bean, carrot, and garlic soup is rather like rice: lots of foods go well with it, or into it. I added some rocklike “fresh” peas (what was I thinking, buying fresh peas in February?)…
and new potatoes, bought for another recipe. Like the peas, the potatoes were far from new but revived in a brothy bath.
A smoked turkey wing rounded things out. The rather crummy photo below shows the turkey meat stripped from the wing bones. Moments later it went back into the soup.
I realize some of you will never, ever soak a dried bean. Canned beans will work in this recipe provided they’re drained and rinsed before use. As white beans are comparatively delicate, consider using sturdier beans like chickpeas, kidney beans, or Gigante beans, sometimes called Gigantes plaki beans. Whatever canned bean you use only needs heating through, so add them during the final half hour of cooking. Otherwise you risk mushy beans. This is not photographed.
White bean and carrot soup with garlic may be served as a meal in itself or with a green salad. It is especially good with bread and a sharp cheese like cheddar.
White Bean Soup with Carrots and Garlic
prep time: if your dried beans are fresh, soaking time will be about 2 hours. If your beans are older, give them more soaking time. Hands on prep time is minimal. The soup takes about 2-1/2 hours to cook. That time is largely unattended.
White bean soup with carrots and garlic may be prepared in a slow cooker or an Instant Pot.
Serves: 2-4; easily scaled upward
Please see notes, below, for theme and variations.
1 tablespoon sweet butter
1-3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-3 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1/3 cup/75 grams dried white beans, soaked and drained
If using canned beans: one 14 ounce/396 gram can white, kidney,
chickpea, or Gigante beans, drained and well rinsed. It will be added
at the end of the recipe.
Optional additions:
1/2 cup/60 grams fresh or frozen peas
1/2 cup/60 grams potatoes, peeled or not, sliced into small pieces
I added a smoked turkey wing
black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or sweet, if preferred)
5-6 cups/approx 1 liter chicken or vegetable broth. Or use water.
salt, to taste
any of the suggested additions in the notes section, below.
I used an 8 q/l soup pot to make white bean, carrot, and garlic soup. If you don’t have a soup pot, a pasta pot or comparative large pot holding 5 q/l of liquid will work. A lidded pot is best, but lacking a lid, use one from another pot or make one from tinfoil.
Melt the butter over medium low heat.
Add the garlic, onion, and carrots to the pot. Stir to coat the vegetables in butter. Partially cover. Allow the vegetables to cook in butter without browning, stirring occasionally, until softened. This will take 20-25 minutes. If the pot begins running dry, add water. Adjust heat if necessary; you don’t want the vegetables to fry.
Once the everything is soft, if you are using dried beans, add them now, along with any other beans, meats, or vegetables.
Add pepper, oregano, and paprika.
Stir, then add the broth. It should just cover the ingredients, though the turkey wing I used protruded above the broth a bit. As it was fully cooked, I just turned it regularly. At serving time, I stripped it of meat, which I returned to the pot.
Begin testing beans for doneness after about 45 minutes of cooking. My beans took 90 minutes to cook. Yours could take more or less time; it depends on how old they are. Once they’re cooked through, it is safe to salt the soup.
Total cooking time will depend on the age of your beans and the other ingredients you’ve added. For example, rutabaga or beets take longer to cook than spinach.
If you are using canned beans, drain them in a colander and rinse thoroughly. Add to soup during final half-hour of cooking.
White bean soup with carrots and garlic may be served immediately, or you can cool and refrigerate it, covered, up to three days. If you used chicken broth, you can either freeze the soup at this point, or reheat it to a boil and refrigerate it again for three more days. Ideally it’s served and either consumed or frozen within 5 days.
Notes:
If you are using canned beans, try to find an unsalted variety. If you can’t, remember to account for this when seasoning your soup. Canned beans may be used instead of dried, but sturdier beans like Gigantes, kidney, or chickpeas are recommended. White beans are delicate and may quickly turn mushy. Whatever beans you choose should be added during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
The onion may be replaced with a shallot or green onions. Use what you have.
Feel free to vary the seasonings. Try cumin and coriander seed. Fresh herbs like parsley and mint are welcome. Cilantro can be divisive; make sure your diners enjoy it or serve it on the side.
A bottle of hot sauce on the table is always welcome. Or go the dairy route and offer sour cream, yogurt, or creme fraiche. Or both.
1/3 cup/75 grams of dried white beans will expand to about 1 cup/227 grams. As my beans were fresh, I soaked them for only 2 hours. If yours are older, soak accordingly.
Potential additions to white bean soup are endless. Fresh greens like collards, beet greens, or spinach are great choices. Additional dried legumes like black or red beans are delicious, as are red lentils (no soaking necessary). I often toss a handful of Basmati rice into soup toward the end of cooking (give it at least 20 minutes cooking time).
Root vegetables like parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, and radishes are great in bean soup.
Fresh vegetables like green beans, zucchini, and mushrooms are all fine additions to bean soup.
Soup pastas like orzo or pastina are delicious and inexpensive.
Leftover meats can work well in soup; pork in all forms is famously friendly with beans. Any of member the smoked pork tribe adds tremedous flavor to an entire pot of soup. Those who abstain from pork can seek out smoked chicken and turkey products. Vegetarians and vegans can use smoked or 5-spice tofu.
A word about broth: homemade is best, but not everyone has time or energy to make it. Buy your favorite quality unsalted broth or use water.
