White bean and spring greens soup

In my opinion, beans are the best for feeding a crowd! The are veggie/vegan friendly, gluten free, cheap (especially if you used dried ones) and they are brilliant to use in the Winter months when we have less fresh produce available. And if you cook them with love and care they are absolutely delicious!

This is the perfect soup to make when you start to see the first spring greens and kale tops in the farmer’s market or in your garden. Or if you are a keen forager then you can add handfuls of dandelions, nettle tops, sorrel or wild garlic as they appear. This is perfect served with our bannock scones for a Brigid’s Day feast.

Serves 8

To cook the beans:
500g dried cannellini/haricot beans
A small bunch of thyme (about 6 stalks)
1 stick of celery
1 small onion, peeled, roots trimmed and cut in half
1 small carrot
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed a little
1 teaspoon of salt

To finish the dish:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions (about 300g), finely chopped
250g leek, finely chopped
4 stick of celery, finely chopped (or 2 bulbs of fennel)
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
250ml white wine
100g foraged spring greens, such as young nettles, sorrel leaves and young dandelion leaves washed well and any thick stems removed (alternatively use 200g kale, washed well, thick stems removed and finely sliced)
Sherry vinegar, to taste
Salt and pepper

For the harissa oil:
1 tablespoon good quality rose harissa
3 tablespoons oil

The day before you want to make the dish put the dried beans in a large bowl and cover in at least twice the volume of water. Leave overnight to soak.

The next day, drain the beans and put them in a large pan. Add fresh water to cover the beans by about 5cm. You don’t want to add too much as the water you are cooking the beans in forms the liquid in the dish. Add the aromatics to the pan – the thyme, celery, onion, carrots and lightly crushed garlic cloves.

Turn the heat on to high and bring the mixture to the boil. Once bubbling turn the heat down to medium-low and allow to simmer away uncovered for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Skim off any of the white bubbly scum that rises to the surface and discard.

Check the beans every so often to see if they are cooked and if the pan seems to be getting dry add a 200ml more water. How long dried beans take to cook depends a bit on how old they are so it could take a bit less than 45 minutes or a bit longer. When the beans are cooked, they will be soft, still holding their shape and not chalky when you bite into them. Turn off the heat and then fish out all the aromatics using a slotted spoon – the thyme stalks (they will have shed their leaves into the beans which is perfect), the carrot, celery and onion halves. Leave the garlic cloves in there if you can. Add the salt and stir well. You can also cook the beans in the same way but in a pressure cooker. The beans will take about 8 minutes at high pressure and then leave the pressure to release slowly.

While the beans are cooking finely chop the onions and celery and slice the garlic. In a wide pan heat the olive oil over a medium heat. Turn the heat down to low add the onions, celery and garlic with a generous pinch of salt and cook for about half an hour until completely soft but not coloured. Turn the heat up to high and immediately add the white wine, allow to bubble away vigorously for about 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by about half. Turn the heat off.

Using a slotted spoon scoop about half the beans into the onion, leek and celery mixture.

Use a stick blender (or a regular blender) to puree the rest of the beans into a smooth white soup. Add the reserved beans with the onion, leek and celery mix back into the soup.

Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Salt the water well and then add in the slice kale. Simmer for 3 minutes until the kale is soft. If you are using other softer greens – such as nettles, sorrel, dandelion etc, you can just wilt these in the pan with the onion and celery mix. Kale requires a little more cooking.

Strain the kale and stir it into the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning – I often like to add a little sherry vinegar or lemon juice and black pepper. Add more salt if needed.

Mix the harissa paste and olive oil together. Serve the soup in warm bowls with a drizzle of harissa oil.

For beautiful presentation you can reserve some of the kale and sprinkle it over the soup at the end.

This is also delicious with a grating of hard cheese (we like Templegall - an Alpine-style cheese from Co. Cork) over the top.