This week’s ingredient was beans. My first thought was what am I going to come up with that is unique. But then I throught of something that was unique to me. (I’ve decided it’s next to impossible to come up with totally unique ideas, so who knows if others have done this.) I had a bag of Cannelini beans that I had brought back from our last trip to Italy. I decided to make a pureed bean soup, top it with roasted cauliflower and drizzle it with truffle oil. It came out delicous. If you don’t have cannelini beans, you could use any dried white bean.
Puree of Cannelini Bean Soup with Roasted Cauliflower and Truffle Oil 6 Servings
1 1/2 cups dried cannelini beans
Sprig fresh sage
Sprig fresh rosemary
1/2 onion, peeled
water or part water and part chicken broth (I used 1/2 water and 1/2 chicken broth
Salt and Pepper to taste
1. Rinse beans, place in large pot, cover generously with water, and soak overnight.
2. After soaking, drain and rinse the beans. Put the beans in a large pot and cover (with a couple of inches above the beans) with water or a combination of water and chicken broth. Add the sage, rosemary, and onion. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and cook until beans are tender. (I forgot to pay attention to how long this took. Sometime between 1-2 hours.) Season with salt and pepper.
3. Using a hand immersion blender or a regular blender or food processor, puree the beans along with their cooking liquid until smooth. If too thick, add a little water.
4. While the beans are cooking, roast your cauliflower. Just cut the cauliflower into small pieces, toss with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread out on a baking sheet. Roast at 400 degrees until cauliflower is soft and nicely browned.
5. Serve by placing soup in a shallow bowl, top with cauliflower and drizzle with a little truffle oil. If you don’t have, or don’t like, truffle oil, just drizzle with a good olive oil.