i’m not a huge fan of plain old tomato soup, I find tomatoes quite acidic and in a soup they can become rather bland… spoonful after spoonful of blah… so it was with slight trepidation and a little annoyance when I hadn’t picked one of many of the the other amazing soups in the brilliant New Covent Garden Book of Soups… but as I further read the ingredients I could really see how the beans in the soup would add a lovely, rich and thick element making it very filling and rather more interesting…
… which is lucky because this month the devastatingly handsome Dominic from Belleau Kitchen and the breathtakingly beautiful Jac from Tinned Tomatoes have teamed up for …. oh you know the rest…
White Bean, Tomato and Sage Soup
It was a lovely soup but a bit of a faff to cook with all the soaking and I cant really see how using tinned, pre-soaked beans, could make it taste any different but save a heck of a lot of time!
150g dried butter beans – soaked in 200ml water for 1hr
60g dried haricot beans – soaked in 75ml water for 1hr
25g butter
1/2 medium onion – finely chopped
1 garlic clove – crushed
2 pints vegetable stock
1 heaped teaspoon tomato puree
150g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon demerara sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
salt
150ml milk
1 tablespoon double cream
– melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic gently until soft, in a covered saucepan without colouring
– add the stock, tomato puree, butter beans and tomatoes, cover, bring to the boil and then simmer gently until the butter beans are tender
– cool a little, then whizz with a hand-blender
– add the haricot beans, sugar, sage and salt to taste, simmer for a further 45 minutes until the haricot beans are tender.
– cool and stir in the milk and cream
oh and one last thing, can i ask that you take a look at The Viking‘s blog… his most recent post, about his mum and food, is rather wonderful x
eat and of course, enjoy!
I think it looks delicious, but then again I love tomato soup. Having added the beans and sage it must have been really good. Growing up we had a lot of tomato soup for lunch, we always tossed in a piece of bread. YUMMY!!
I think it looks lovely – especially in those big cups! I generally love a home made tomato soup.
The people who run these challenges think a lot if themselves don't they? 😉
I'm with you on the tomato soup thing . . . I must have been the only kid in the world who loathed Heinz tomato soup (too sweet). But I do love tomatoes and love those Greek beany, tomatoey dishes. This sounds gorgeous and looks awesome. It's calling out to me on this miserable grey day!
I have to confess I love Heinz tomato soup – it reminds me of my childhood, walking home from school on dismal winter days and having a bowl of soup with fresh bread to dunk in it for tea…..but your soup sounds better and I would definitely give it a try ~ as you say, using tinned beans…..a tin of each do you think?
I'm with you as far as tomato soup is concerned not really worth dipping the spoon in. But I love butter beans there is something very comforting about them so I'll definitely give this a go. GG
I was fed a lot of tomato soup as a kid, all of it from Campbell's cans. I much prefer a homemade version like yours. And how come there is no photo of the devastatingly handsome Dominic on the blog?
Must be a tomato soup vibe going around! I made tom soup at the weekend, not on the blog yet, later this week.
hmm i must be weird, i love tomato in soup and stews. i only ahte it when i get it outside, and that's because i know i'm being overcharged because tomato soup is one of the simplest yet most yummy soups to make!
tomato soup is one of my favourite soups. I love your version. Could you please send some over? 🙂
I know what you mean about the faff of soaking things in advance. There are so many dishes I've meant to make but have somehow not got around to because I forget the soaking bit. Nice sounding soup, though. I really like tomato soups – but I admit that there are limits.
Great combo and this one sounds fabulous!
A bit of a faff, indeed! I almost always used canned beans in recipes … this soup looks a winner! I love adding herbs to tomato soups … def perks the tomato flavour and brings it to a different tomato-i-ness. God, how I love Fall and Winter for the soup recipes that come our way on the blogs!
Tomato soup was a favourite of my dads who is a vegetarian when I was growing up so it one of those things I sort of avoid. But like you I love it with that little bit of something extra.
I think the soup looks fantastic!!