Directions

• Step 1 Heat 3 T. olive oil in a large soup pot. Add onions, celery, half the carrots and 1/2 t. salt and saute vegetables until they begin to brown.Stir the vegetable mixture as you saute. Once the vegetables have started to brown, add garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for about 30 seconds. Stir tomato paste into the mixture and cook for a few minutes until it begins to brown. Add the soaked and drained beans and the vegetable broth to the mixture. Stir. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Simmer partially covered until the beans are tender. This will take about an hour to an hour and a half. Stir the soup occasionally as you cook it to be sure the beans are not sticking to the bottom of the pot.
• Step 2 Remove about one cup of the cooked beans (no broth) from the soup pot and mash. Return the mashed bean paste to the simmering soup and stir to mix. Add the remaining chopped carrots to the soup and continue cooking the soup until the carrots are tender. This will take about ten minutes.
• Step 3 Remove the soup from the heat. Stir in vinegar to taste. (I used the entire 4 teaspoons in my soup.) Whisk the remaining 3 T. olive oil into the soup (Whisk vigorously to thicken your soup!). The olive oil will thicken the soup and give it a creamy mouthfeel. Season soup with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with chopped Kalamata olives, crumbled feta cheese, and chopped parsley. Cook’s Note: You can used a 15 1/2 ounce can of white beans in this soup. If you do use canned beans, reduce the broth to 1 1/2 quarts and add all of the carrots, onions and celery to the broth at one time.  Add the whole and mashed beans at the same time. Simmer the broth, beans and vegetables until the carrots are tender. Otherwise, follow the directions above.