Food Friday: Spiced White Bean & Lemon Soup

Good news today, friends. My recipe doesn't contain zucchini OR cucumbers!! It does, however, call for a pound of fresh tomatoes, of which I've got plenty. But don't worry if tomatoes aren't in season when you make this. You can used canned, chopped tomatoes instead.

I think I'm becoming addicted to soup. I find myself craving it more and more often, and making it all the time. I mean, there are so many different spices, textures, ingredients, and flavors to experiment with, so it doesn't get old. Truly, you can make soup out of pretty much anything, and because of this (I think), I just never seem to get tired of it.




Anyway, Justyn's mom bought me an entire soup cookbook a few years ago, and needless to say I've gotten quite a bit of use out of it. I've had my eye on this recipe for quite a while, actually, and now I'm wishing I would've made it sooner. It originally called for chickpeas, but I'm not a big fan of garbanzo beans, so I substituted cannellini beans (white kidney beans) instead. This soup turned out to be really good... the spices are warm and unique, it tastes really fresh, and is enticingly fragrant. Plus, it's super easy and fast to make!

One note about the tomatoes - the recipe calls for a pound of ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped. If you don't know how to peel tomatoes, this is what you do: Fill a small saucepan with enough water to cover the amount of tomatoes you'll need to peel (but don't put them in yet). Bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes into the water and boil for ONE minute. Remove from heat, drain, and set the tomatoes aside to cool for a bit until you can handle them. Using a knife, gently pierce the skin of each tomato, grab the edge of the skin, and it should peel right off. After that, you can chop them and use them in your soup! I used a combination of Roma tomatoes and Sungold (which is why my soup turned out more orangey-brown than red). I'm sure you can use whichever kind you like, as long as they're ripe and flavorful.

Spiced White Bean & Lemon Soup
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
Two 14-oz. cans cannellini beans
1 lb. ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
4 1/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used my old standard, Imagine brand "No-Chicken" broth)
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Juice of about 1/2 lemon

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic, and cook gently for 4 minutes. Stir in the cumin, cinnamon, and ginger, then add half the beans, tomatoes, and most of the stock, reserving about 3/4 cup. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, process the remaining beans and reserved stock to a smooth puree in a food processor or blender. Stir the puree into the soup. Stir in the parsley. Add salt and pepper, and lemon juice to taste, and serve.