WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH CROUTONS AND SHAGGY KALE PESTO
I don’t miss much about living in New York City, but one of the things I miss very much lately were the years collaborating with other recipe developers, stylist, writers and photographers in my role as Food Director at Real Simple (ions ago). It’s not that those of us on the other side—entrepreneurs, freelancers, virtual one-man-bands—aren’t a collaborative bunch. We are. But it’s a lot of work pulling off creating, styling and shooting recipes for books and websites, and we all have our hands full.
So when I get a chance to dip out of my own world, and into the world of another food writer I know and trust—to see how they do family dinner, to taste life at their table—it’s always a little lift. Jenny Rosenstrach of Dinner A Love Story, the beloved blog and book by the same name, is exactly such a person. Her girls are nearly grown now, but over the many years her work has crossed my path (we share Real Simple roots), I’ve watched the way she serves and celebrates her family with a seemingly bottomless cup of enthusiasm, joy and maybe a little duty sprinkled in, because let’s face it—even with love, there’s still days we’d just have to show up because our people are hungry.
Jenny is the queen of smart, unfussy family meals. She knows what kids will willingly eat, that will still satisfy grown-ups at the table. To wit: her Easiest White Bean Soup, pictured here, which I enjoyed for a late lunch earlier this week. This one comes from her latest book, The Weekday Vegetarians. It’s a book I like because as someone who wrote a vegetarian book myself (FEAST) that’s anything but dogmatic, I vibe with the concept that you can easily be mostly vegetarian, or sometimes vegetarian, or almost-always-vegetarian or in Jenny’s family’s case, weekday vegetarians, without committing whole hog (or, whole hog-less, as it were).
Some people won’t like it. They will want you to choose sides. But just like on this site (where you’ll find mostly plant-based meals with occasional doses of really-worth-it animal products), Jenny doesn’t ask you to choose, making it far more possible to stick to this way of eating for many years to come.
Take it from me, a woman married to 30-year vegetarian (yes! my husband has not eaten meat since he was 12!!) who occasionally lets me put chicken broth in our vegetable soups, because both his Nagymama and I agree, broth is healing and flavorful. Or, don’t take it from me—take if from Jenny. This excellent soup is just a sample of her easy, do-able way of life.
RECIPE, BELOW.
JENNY’S EASIEST WHITE BEAN SOUP
Reprinted with permission from The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach *
SERVES 4
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
½ small yellow onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch of dried red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
4½ cups cooked cannellini beans, or 3 (15-ounce) cans, rinsed and drained
2½ to 3 cups vegetable stock, store-bought or homemade (page 232)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
4 thick-cut slices crusty bread, such as ciabatta
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (about 1 ounce)
Serving (optional)
Kale Pesto or your favorite store-bought pesto
In a stockpot set over low heat, combine 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, the onion, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until the onion is golden and slightly caramelized, stirring often, for as long as you have patience, but a minimum of 5 to 7 minutes. (A lot of the depth in this soup will come from caramelizing the onion, so the longer, the better.) Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the beans and just enough stock to cover. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to an aggressive simmer until warmed through, about 3 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and, using a slotted spoon, scoop out and set aside about 1 cup of the beans. Stir the vinegar into the pot, then puree the soup using a handheld immersion blender. Set back on the stove top over low heat to keep warm.
Preheat the broiler. Place the bread slices on a sheet pan and broil on the top rack of the oven just until toasted but not quite golden, about 1½ minutes. (Watch carefully so they don’t burn.) Flip them over, brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon Parmesan, and broil until the cheese has melted, another 1½ minutes. Remove from the oven.
Serve the soup in large shallow bowls, placing one giant crouton in the middle of the soup along with a few reserved beans, the pesto, and the scallions and chives, if using. Drizzle with more olive oil just before serving.
Reprinted from The Weekday Vegetarians. Copyright © 2021 by Jenny Rosenstrach.Photographs copyright © 2021 by Christine Han. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House
