Fennel-White Bean Soup Recipe

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Off the Hip Cooking

I’m always creating new foods, most of them are actually quite simple and driven by what I have on hand. Like many of you, I have champagne tastes and a beer budget.  Ultimately, it is a leading cause for why my hubby and I started the show. We found it much cheaper and yummier to create gourmet foods at home, rather than eating out.

Anyways…

This post marks a new series here on my blog. We will call it ‘off the hip’ recipes, and it is essentially a journal of the foods I’m creating for daily eating. These recipes are different than the show in that they are make-it-up-as-I-go style. Measurements are approximate, please use common sense when you follow them. At the end of the recipe I’ll post my thoughts and stuff I did to finish it.

Please do reach out with any questions! I hope to make this a regular, interactive kind of thing.

Fennel-White Bean Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 T bacon fat roux
  • 1 bulb of fennel, diced
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Approx 2 c white beans
  • 2 bay leaves
  • A random pork chop bone I froze
  • 1 dehydrated tomato
  • Splash of cream
  • Water to cover by a few inches
  • Spices:  cumin, curry, chili powder, white pepper
  • Salt to taste 
  Mise en Plas:

  • Stockpot
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Blender
  • Wire Mesh Strainer or Sieve

Directions:

Saute fennel, onion and garlic in bacon fat until aromatic, add flour, cook a couple more minutes. Cover with water or stock, add bay leaves, bone, tomato and cream. Cover with a lid.  Simmer until the beans are tender. Puree. Serve with a swirl of good quality EVOO or truffle oil, a few shavings of romano and a green herb garnish.

Finishing notes on the soup:

  • I found the skins of the beans to be interfering with the texture, even after running through the blender. The soup was strained through a wire mesh strainer.
  • Finishing flavor: white pepper, a tiny dusting of cumin, curry, chili powder, and a nice dose of cream
  • Finishing oil: I made ‘fancy’ Olive oil by gently heating a bunch with lemon zest and garlic.
  • Next time I would omit the tomatoes. They muddied the flavor and made the color a little more ruddy than I would have liked.
  • Next time I would also reduce the volume of beans and add cauliflower, which purees beautifully and is much whiter than the beans.

I REALLY wish my phone took decent pics because the presentation was as pretty as the soup was tasty.

Cheers, all!

 

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