Three bean soups

As in three soups that have beans in them, not three-bean soup, which is its own thing. When you think of bean soup, if you're like me, the first thing that comes to mind is navy bean with ham or bacon. But given the variety of beans out there, there's a wide variation of bean soup recipes. In some cases they provide the solid heft, in others, pureed creaminess. Beans' basic blandness lends itself to be a carrier for whatever flavor profile you choose to apply.

The fact that these three recipes are all from Cooking Light is no coincidence. I'm finally starting to slowly go through old cooking magazines to clip likely suspects and recycle the rest. It was one of those tasks that fell into the category of oh, that seems like a good job to deal with when I'm retired. It didn't particularly strike me as odd to retain what are essentially monthly cookbooks, but if casual acquaintances came to the house, they'd invariably comment on the shelves of magazines lining the sunroom. Regular friends don't bat an eye at this apparent aberration, just file that under one of my basic personality quirks.

It's been an interesting exercise going through the back issues. Back then I was going through each issue and writing out on a sheet of scratch paper which recipes I wanted to try from each issue, noting the page number and which sort of meal they were suited for: weeknight supper, weekend lunch, etc. I'd put checkmarks and comments by any I tried and an arrow in front of ones I really wanted to try first. Comparing what I clipped out now to what I wanted to try then shows that tastes change. Recipes I hadn't even marked to try are now in my clipping pile, while some former must-tries didn't move the needle.

This first soup makes me feel vindicated in hanging on to what for others are ephemeral periodicals. 

Creamy truffle-scented white bean soup

From Cooking Light, sometime in the aughts.
Note: This recipe called for bottled minced roasted garlic. That might be a thing still and I just haven't looked for it. At any rate, I opted for roasted garlic from the grocery store deli. I also included a bit of the cooking liquid with the beans, since I used beans I'd cooked and stored in the freezer instead of canned. The recipe also calls for truffle oil, which is dandy, but feel free to try whatever flavored oil you want. My favorite with this is actually a lemon-infused oil.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced roasted garlic
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 cups broth
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (see note)
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon truffle oil or other flavored oil

Method

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender. Add garlic, pepper and rosemary and cook until fragrant. Add broth and beans. Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Puree soup. Check seasoning, adding more lemon juice if desired. Serve each of the 4 servings topped with a ¼ teaspoon of truffle oil for each serving.

Rating: Quite nice. Worth making even if you don't have any flavored oils, because the roasted garlic and rosemary do quite a nice job on their own, flavorwise. Decent texture, and really a nice fast fix. While the flavor may deepen a bit if made ahead, it's plenty tasty right away, so it's one you can whip up quickly anytime you have roasted garlic. Well, assuming you have a rosemary bush or the equivalent. Definitely going in the Keeper pile.

Black bean soup

From Cooking Light

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced onion
¼ diced peppers (I used red and yellow since that's what I had)
3 tablespoons chopped carrot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups broth
1 cup water
3 cans (15-ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
Sliced green onions for garnish

Method

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper and carrots. Cook until tender. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add broth, water and beans. Cook 20 minutes. Cool slightly and puree. Serve garnished with green onions.

Rating: Sludgy texture, but that's not entirely a bad thing in winter, and it delivers your basic chili spices. Improves with reheating, so it's one to make ahead for best flavor.

Leek and lima bean soup with bacon

From Cooking Light, June 2008 issue. Makes 8 skimpy servings.

Ingredients

3 bacon slices
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light-green parts only
4 cups lima beans, fresh or thawed if frozen
4 cups broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup chopped green onions for garnish
¼ cup sour cream for garnish

Method

Cook bacon in a large, deep-sided pot until crisp. Remove from pan, drain and chop when cool.

In bacon drippings, cook leeks until tender over medium heat. Add beans, broth and water. Bring to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes. Cool mixture slightly and puree in a food processor or blender. Return to pan and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve garnished with chopped bacon, a tablespoon of sour cream and some green onions.

Rating: As much as I ordinarily like fresh lemon in pretty much anything, it strikes a really off note in this recipe, so if I ever make it again, I'm going to skip that. The bacon is doing all the flavor work here, and it comes in more fully upon reheating, so I'd suggest making it ahead for better flavor. Because bacon. But overall, this one falls into the category of worth trying, better than canned, but not really worth repeating when the world is filled with tastier soup recipes.