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!

Creamy White Bean Soup with Swiss Chard

 

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Author: Hindy Garfinkel

Ingredients

• 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

For the Swiss Chard:

• 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

Instructions

1. Start by heating up the olive oil in a medium size soup pot.
2. Add in the onions and garlic, drained beans, salt, pepper and rosemary and saute another 5-7 minutes.
3. You want the garlic and onions to soften a bit and get fragrant.
4. Add in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
5. Cover and let the mixture simmer.
6. While the beans cook, work on the swiss chard.
7. In a large saute pan, heat up the olive oil.
8. Add in the shallots and the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes.
9. Add in the chopped swiss chard, the salt and pepper and stir a bit and let it soften - stirring a every couple of minutes.
10. The swiss chard process should take about 5-7 minutes.
11. Turn off the heat and set the swiss chard to the side.
12. Let the bean soup mixture cook for a total of about an hour. The beans should be pretty soft.
13. Using your immersion blender, puree the soup completely. The beans will give the soup a very creamy and velvety texture.
14. Once the soup is pureed, stir in the cooked swiss chard.
15. Serve and enjoy!

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