White Bean and Bacon Soup

It’s the season for something hearty, comforting and filling at lunchtime, so today we’re making up a big pot of White Bean and Bacon Soup (the flavours only get better as they sit in the fridge!) to see us through the week, delicious by itself, or even better with some toasted sourdough on the side, slathered with good salted butter.

The ingredients list for this bean and bacon soup is a simple one (only 8 ingredients, if you don’t count olive oil and sea salt, and an optional scattering of flat leaf parsley!), so good quality ingredients matter, from plump and creamy jarred beans to good bacon and stock. A soffrito base makes matters even more nourishing, and a hint of warmer weather is added with a touch of caramelised tomato puree. Sage is one of the few herbs still alive in the garden at the moment so in goes a sprig of that, but if you’ve only got rosemary, that would work really nicely too.

Don’t Use Too Much Salt!

Don’t salt this soup until the very end, because depending on which ingredients you use you might not need any extra salt at all! Lardons contain salt, your chicken stock might contain salt, and your jarred beans do contain salt. Remember you can always add more salt, but you can’t take it away!

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White Bean and Bacon Soup

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4
• Category: Soups
• Cuisine: Italian
• Diet: Gluten Free

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Description

This delicious, hearty White Bean and Bacon Soup is the perfect winter recipe, scooped into bowls for lunch or dinner topped with a scattering of flat leaf parsley.

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Ingredients

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• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200g lardons
• 2 large shallots
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 900ml chicken stock
• sprig fresh sage
• 1 x 750g jar white beans + the liquid from the jar
• sea salt, to taste
• chopped flat leaf parsley, optional to serve

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Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Once it is shimmering, add the lardons and cook, stirring often until they’re cooked through and starting to crisp. Depending on the quality of your lardons, this can take anything from 4-10 minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper. Meanwhile, trim / peel the shallots, carrot and celery before chopping into a fine dice. 
2. If your lardons have given out a lot of oil, drain some off – you want about 1 1/2 tbsp remaining in the bottom of the pot. In general, better quality lardons will give off more fat. 
3. Stir in the chopped shallots, carrot, and celery. Cook for 8-10 minutes until soft.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until caramelised. 
5. Return the lardons and pour in the stock, and use the spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the sage and the white beans and their liquid. Stir well before allowing the soup to simmer gently, uncovered for 20 minutes.
6. Check to see if you want to add any salt (depending on your ingredients you might not need any) before serving in warm bowls topped with the chopped parsley. 

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Notes

This soup will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. I’ve not personally tried it, but it should also freeze well; however, you shouldn’t do this if the lardons have previously been frozen. 

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