| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried cannellini beans
- 2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
- 1 yellow onion, quartered lengthwise
- 1 celery stalk, quartered crosswise
- 1 carrot, quartered crosswise
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 quart chicken stock
- Finely ground sea salt, preferably gray salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, optional
- 6 slices country-style bread, each 3/4-inch thick
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Finely ground sea salt, preferably gray salt
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the beans: Rinse the beans, place in a saucepan, and add cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, and remove from the heat. Let stand for about 20 minutes, then drain.
- Return the beans to the saucepan along with the prosciutto, onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and bay leaf. Pour in the chicken stock and then add water as needed to cover the beans by 2 inches. Slowly bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. (If you heat them too fast, the skins may break.) Adjust the heat to maintain a bare simmer and cook, uncovered, until the beans are almost tender, 20 minutes or longer, depending on the age of the beans. Add salt, to taste, and continue cooking until the beans are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes longer. Remove from the heat and let the beans cool in the liquid.
- Meanwhile, make the bruschetta: Preheat a stove-top grill pan. Place the bread slices in a single layer on the grill pan and toast until each side is crisp and has grill marks, about 6 minutes. (You can also toast the bread in a 500 degrees F oven on a baking sheet.) Remove from the pan and lightly brush the bread slices on both sides with olive oil, then season lightly with salt. Let cool.
- Strain the cooled beans and other solids through a sieve, reserving the liquid. In a food processor, puree the beans and solids in batches with 3 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Using a rubber spatula, push the solids through a fine mesh sieve into a clean large saucepan (you should have about 6 cups of soup in the saucepan). Season, to taste, with salt and pepper, then bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile, in a small skillet over high heat, warm the 1/4 cup olive oil. Turn on the fan above your stove. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to turn brown. Add the red pepper flakes and cook for a few seconds, then add the basil. Cook until basil wilts.
- To serve, ladle the hot soup into warmed bowls. Top the soup with the basil mixture. Serve bruschetta with each bowl, adding Parmesan, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 635 |
| Total Fat | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 70 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 14 g |
| Sugar | 7 g |
| Protein | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 20 mg |
| Sodium | 828 mg |
Reviews
I used two cans of beans as well. The basil topping is perfection.
Delicious. I left the prosciutto out and added shredded chicken thighs that I’d used to make the broth. I used my instant pot to cut the broths and soups cooking time. I was a little leary of using so little to flavor the soup but it came out creamy and delicious.
Excellent!!! I did make some changes to create the vegan version… No prosciutto, vegetable broth, and no parm… I also left about 1/3 of the beans whole for texture.
The Basil topping really made the soup pop… Love,love, love this recipe!!!
Sautee a Spanish Onion til translucent. Onions and cannelini go so well together serving the beans without onion is an injustice. For some heat and more flavor, too, add 1 or 2 hot Italian fInger peppers and Sautee with the onion and garlic. I don’t include the cheese but you can. If you don’t have the peppers, you can use a half teaspoon crushed pepper Serve soup with some quinoa a great source of protein and fiber or brown rice. Remember these instructions compliment the original recipe. enjoy, buon appetite!
This is one of my favorite soups. I do use canned white beans and this works really well. Everyone I’ve made it for rave about it.
There are a lot of problems with this recipe as published. First, the quick soak of dried beans is not long enough, so the beans never get cooked to the very center. Instead of a quick soak, rinse beans & soak over night in cold water before continuing with recipe. Using dried beans and homemade broth as I did means you need to add more salt. Slowly add and taste until the flavors come out, but you don’t taste the salt. Adding a hamhock or a kielbasa sausage to the beans while they are cooking would add a lot more flavor.
So…seemed to work for those who used canned beans, not for those who used dry.
Made this for dinner tonight. It is delicious! I also used 2 cans of the bean rinsed. Other than the canned beans, I followed the recipe extactly. Worked out great! Will be making this again soon!
I tried this recipe because of all the great reviews I saw but I either made some serious error in the preparation or have very different taste buds than the others who made this recipe. It was very bland which was disappointing because it was also pretty time consuming to make.
I really enjoyed this soup. I too used canned beans and an immersion blender to puree. I also added another can of beans to the pot for texture. I do believe I would like to try bacon or pancetta over the prociutto as I think it could benefit from the extra punch of flavor. Just remember that canellini beans are very mild in flavor overall so don’t be afraid of the spices and aromatics.
Thank you, Michael Chiarello! This soup is flavorful and rich without being heavy. I used an immersion blender instead to make the soup smooth and it turned out fantastic. I look forward to making this again – this is an impressive meal to serve for guests or to cozy up with at home on a chilly night.