A satisfying, lightly creamy soup flavoured with garlic and rosemary. A topping of crunchy croutons provides perfect textural contrast.
See Recipe notes for a completely plant-based vegan Creamy White Bean & Coconut Soup
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until starting to soften without browning (10-12 minutes).
Add the potato, garlic, HALF the rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and cook for a further minute until the aroma rises from the garlic and rosemary.
Add the cooked white beans, milk and stock and stir well.
Bring to the boil: putting a lid on will speed this up but be careful it doesn't boil over. Immediately turn the heat to low and simmer with the lid on until the potatoes are soft (approx 15 minutes).
Off the heat, liquidize the soup then check the seasoning. If using the optional cream, stir it in, reheat and serve the soup sprinkled with the remaining chopped rosemary, a grind of black pepper and the croutons.
Preheat the oven to 200C with a shallow baking tray inside.
Cut the bread into approx 1cm cubes and put into a bowl.
Sprinkle the bread cubes with the garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper then drizzle the olive oil over. Mix with your hands so that each cube is covered in seasoning and oil.
Put the bread cubes on the preheated baking tray in a single layer and put in the hot oven.
Bake until the croutons are golden and crunchy (approx 10 min), turning occasionally and making sure they don't burn.
Set aside to cool then serve sprinkled over the soup.
Variation: Creamy White Bean & Coconut Soup For a completely plant-based, vegan version, follow the recipe substituting coconut oil for the butter and coconut milk for the dairy milk.