Tomato Soup with White Beans, Rosemary and Roasted Garlic

It was rainy all day today and never got out of the low 60’s. This type of weather calls for a nice substantial bowl of soup. I decided to make a tomato-based soup with white beans, rosemary and roasted garlic.

In our house we don’t agree on soup texture. I prefer pureed soups, while my husband likes his soup “with chunks”. So to keep peace in our marriage I puree part of the soup and add “chunks” in at the end. This soup is inspired by Tuscany where they eat a lot of beans, and love the flavor of rosemary.

This soup has a big bold flavor from the fresh rosemary and a nice background from the roasted garlic. The beans give the soup its substantial character.

The cooked tomatoes combined with the fat from the garlic make the lycopene easier for the body to absorb making this soup good for preventing prostate cancer (really, it does – see yesterday’s post if this seems out of place). The fiber in the beans is good for lowering cholesterol. The rosemary has also been shown to stimulate the immune system and contain anti-inflammatory compounds.

Tomato Soup with White Beans, Rosemary and Roasted Garlic
Makes 4 starter size servings

Ingredients:

1 red onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
5 stalks of celery, chopped
¼ cup of water to sauté vegetables
28 ounces of tomato sauce
15 ounces of white beans (1 2/3 cups of cooked beans), drained and rinsed if canned
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, finely minced
12 cloves of roasted garlic
1 teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions:

Cook onion, carrot and celery in water until it is soft. Add tomato sauce and cook for at least 30 minutes. Put tomato soup into the blender and process until smooth. Return the pureed tomato soup to the pot.

Add the minced rosemary, roasted garlic and salt and cook for 15 minutes over low heat to allow flavors to marry. Add the white beans and cook for a few minutes to thoroughly warm the beans. Check the soup for salt and pepper and serve hot.

Comments:

This soup reminds me so much of Tuscany. All I need is a nice glass of chianti and a hunk of good Italian bread and some unfiltered olive oil to dip it in and I am one happy "Italian" camper.