Brothy Fennel White Bean Soup

• porcije: 4 servings
• aktivno vrijeme: 20 minutes
• ukupno vrijeme: 1 hour 20 minutes

Sastojci

1 bulb garlic, tops sliced off

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cipollini onion, thinly sliced (100g sliced)

2 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced (300g sliced)

1 tbsp Aleppo pepper

1 tbsp dried Italian herbs

1 tsp fennel seeds, ground*

2 (14 oz) cans butter beans or white beans of choice

3 small Yukon gold potatoes chopped into small cubes (220g chopped)

3 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed

4 cups water or stock

1/4 cup cream (use a creamy non-dairy cream)

2 cups finely sliced dino kale (40g)

Garnish w/ finely minced chives

Upute

Roast the garlic

Rub the garlic with olive oil, wrap it in foil, and roast it in the oven at 450°F for 30 minutes.

Prep the veggies and aromatics

Start off by prepping the onion, fennel, and potatoes. Since I used a small onion, I thinly sliced it across. For the fennel, slice the bulb in half, remove the core, and then slice thinly; alternatively, you can use a mandoline for this. Chop the potatoes into small cubes to cut down on the cook time – I typically aim for 1cm cubes, which take about 15-20 minutes to cook through and soften.

Sauté the fennel and aromatics

Add the olive oil, onion, and fennel to a large pot (I used a 4.5 QT Dutch oven). Sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel and onion are translucent – this takes around 12-15 minutes. Sprinkle in the Aleppo pepper, herbs, and fennel seeds, and saute for 1 minute to bloom. Lastly, add in the beans, potatoes, salt, and stock. Stir to combine everything. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and let the soup simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes).

Blend some of the soup and simmer

Once the potatoes are soft, ladle 2 cups of the soup into a jar or container (something you can use an immersion blender in), along with the roasted garlic. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and return to the pot of soup, along with the cream and chopped kale. Stir together and adjust for salt as needed. Let the soup simmer a little longer until the kale has wilted.

Serve individual bowls with finely minced chives and crusty, heavily buttered, sourdough bread. Parmesan would also pair really well with this soup!