Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup
Bean, Bacon & Cabbage Soup, using tinned cannellini beans, is nourishing and flavour-packed with 3 to 4 four portions of vegetables in each bowl. Perfect comfort food for Autumn and Winter.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 100 g pancetta or smoked bacon diced small
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 medium onions roughly chopped
- 1 stick celery finely chopped
- 1 small leek roughly chopped
- salt & pepper
- 1 small potato (approx 150g) peeled or unpeeled, diced small
- 240 g cooked cannellini beans a standard 400g tin, after draining & rinsing, gives this approximate amount
- 2 tsp fresh rosemary (optional) finely chopped
- 900 ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
- 160 g savoy cabbage roughly chopped or shredded
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
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Heat the oil in a large saucepan then add the pancetta or bacon. Fry until starting to crisp.
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Add the prepared garlic, onions, celery and leek to the saucepan, season lightly with salt and plenty of pepper.
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Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are starting to soften and brown (10-15 min).
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Stir in the potato, cannellini beans and rosemary plus more black pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.
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Stir in the hot stock, put a lid on and bring to a boil. Immediately turn down the heat and simmer until the potato is tender.
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Stir in the cabbage and parsley then simmer until all the vegetables are soft.
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Remove from the heat and liquidize approximately half of the soup (a stick or immersion blender is easiest).
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Check whether more salt or pepper is needed and, if necessary, gently reheat the soup before serving.
Recipe Notes
A little grated Parmesan sprinkled over each bowl is nice.
To make garlic & rosemary croutons to serve with this soup, see my recipe for Creamy White Bean Soup
For a creamier soup, add 2 tbsp double cream after liquidizing and reheat if necessary.