Soup in July?
Is that even allowed?
This is highly rated soup from Melissa Clark’s Dinner In One cookbook. You can order the book through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
If, on the other hand, you are craving a cold soup to get you through the sweltering summer heat, here is a really wonderful Cantaloupe Soup recipe. You’ll find the recipe here.
A soup doesn’t get a lot more beautiful or more creative. Jalapeños, mint and red onions…with cantaloupe??? Who woulda thought?
Here is the recipe for the Lemony White Bean Soup as I prepared it in my kitchen. For my kitchen, I prepared this soup without the turkey called for in the original recipe.This is one of those perfect recipes for using pantry staples and the endless bounty of summer vegetables.
Lemony White Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 3 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion (diced)
- 1 large carrot (diced)
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1 T. tomato paste
- 3/4 t. ground cumin
- 1/8 t. crushed red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 11 T. fresh ginger (grated)
- 1 t. kosher salt (or to taste)
- 2 fifteen-ounce cans of white beans or equivalent cooked dried beans
- 4-6 C. vegetable stock
- 1 C. fresh herbs (parsley, chives and basil)
- 1-2 chopped fresh tomatoes
- Fresh lemon juice to taste
- Grated Parmesan (for garnish)
- Sourdough bread crumbs sauteed in butter.
Directions
- Step 1 Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the diced onion and carrot in the hot oil. You want the vegetables to brown around the edges. Once the vegetables are cooked this way, add the tomato paste, cumin and red pepper flakes to the pot and saute. You want the paste to darken. This will take about one minute.
- Step 2 Add the garlic, ginger and salt to the pot and saute.
- Step 3 Add the beans to the pot and the stock. Simmer until the soup thickens for about 15 to 25 minutes.
- Step 4 Prepare the greens for your soup. Wash them carefully, trim off any stems and tear into bite-sized pieces. Add to the pot and continue to cook your soup until the greens soften.
- Step 5 Stir in the herbs and the chopped fresh tomatoes. I used parsley and basil in my soup, but the original recipe gave a lot of options including mint, dill, tarragon, and chives (or any combination of these herbs).
- Step 6 Stir the lemon juice into the pot. Adjust seasonings to your taste.
- Step 7 Serve drizzled with more olive oiul. I topped my soup with grated Parmesan, a few chopped fresh herbs and sourdough bread crumbs that had been sauteed in butter.
