I had a huge amount of swiss chard in my kitchen. I was going to turn it into a stir fry, but the wintery weather got the better of me. I decided to come up with a soup recipe that would work with what I had on hand.
My daughter loves spinach in her soup. I had a hunch that the swiss chard would be a good stand-in. So I got to work.
I sauteed some onions and garlic in some olive oil and added in some rosemary and two cans of cannellini beans.
I then added some vegetable broth to the mixture and let it come to a boil. I let the soup simmer on the stove on low for about an hour.
While the bean soup cooked, I worked on the swiss chard. I chopped up some washed swiss chard. Then, I sauteed some shallots and garlic with some salt and pepper. I used lots of garlic. I added the chopped swiss chard to the pan and let that cook for a few minutes. Swiss chard takes about 5 minutes or so to be cooked. Once it was softened, I set it aside for when the soup was done.
Once the beans were cooked through, I took out my immersion blender and pureed the soup mixture. I made sure to puree everything, giving it a velvety and creamy texture. Once that was done, I added the swiss chard to the pot.
This soup took about an hour from start to finish. Woot woot! And my daughter approved. She’s my toughest critic!
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 small onions, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 tsp. salt
- 3 tsp. fresh ground pepper
- 3 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. ground pepper
- 1 big bunch of swiss chard, stems trimmed off, washed and chopped (about 4-5 overflowing cups)
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- additional salt and pepper as needed
- Start by heating up the olive oil in a medium size soup pot.
- Add in the onions and garlic, drained beans, salt, pepper and rosemary and saute another 5-7 minutes.
- You want the garlic and onions to soften a bit and get fragrant.
- Add in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
- Cover and let the mixture simmer.
- While the beans cook, work on the swiss chard.
- In a large saute pan, heat up the olive oil.
- Add in the shallots and the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the chopped swiss chard, the salt and pepper and stir a bit and let it soften - stirring a every couple of minutes.
- The swiss chard process should take about 5-7 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and set the swiss chard to the side.
- Let the bean soup mixture cook for a total of about an hour. The beans should be pretty soft.
- Using your immersion blender, puree the soup completely. The beans will give the soup a very creamy and velvety texture.
- Once the soup is pureed, stir in the cooked swiss chard.
- Serve and enjoy!
This looks so comforting! I just made a chicken chili like this with canned cannelini beans and kale. I love how thick the beans make it.
So creamy! I miss having white beans.