This hearty and nutritious Tuscan Bean Soup, is packed full of nutritious morsels and will hit the spot on a cold winter night. An added bonus is it’s quick and easy to make and you’ll likely have most ingredients on hand – and if not, you can substitute a few ingredients and it will still be delicious! If you want to be real clever, double the ingredients and you will have a few extra meals for the week, or you can freeze some for later.
I don’t know about you, but here in Toronto as soon as end of September hits, I’m itching to make soup. In Spring and summer we typically tend to eat salads, barbeques and a lot of other lighter meals, but as soon as autumn hits, besides wanting to wear sweaters, and woolly items, I’m craving hearty soups! When it’s soup season, there are so many amazing hearty foods to make, but this Tuscan Bean Soup is a family favorite and I’m hoping it will become one of your go to recipes!
Tuscan Bean Soup
Prep time 15 mins | Cooking time 20 mins
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil 2 each onion, carrot and celery stalk chopped 2 tsp oregano 1 tsp each dried thyme and basil ½ tsp each salt, pepper 1 each bay leaf and clove garlic, minced 2 cups chicken ½ cup white wine 1 (398ml) can diced tomatoes with juices 1 (540 ml) can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed 2 cups lightly packed chopped kale Salt and pepper to taste Grated parmesan
Method:
In a Dutch oven or wide, deep saucepan and set over medium heat.
Add oil and cook onion, carrot and celery, stirring often for 5 mins or until vegetables are softened. Add the oregano, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, bay leaf and garlic. Cook stirring for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add the stock, wine, tomatoes with juices, and beans. Bring to a boil. Bring to a medium heat for 10 mins. Discard bay leaf. Gently stir in the kale, cook, uncovered for 2 minutes, add salt & pepper to taste. Remove pan from heat. Serve. Sprinkle grated parmesan on each serving.
The lovely thing about this recipe is you can easily make it vegan (substitute the chicken stock with vegetable stock) or you can substitute some ingredients such as chick peas for the white kidney beans, or spinach for the kale. You could easily make this a pescatarian dish by nestling in a few pieces of frozen fish pieces, at the end of making the soup, covering the pot with its lid and poaching for a few minutes until fish is cooked.
