Too Hot for Wendy Soup

Just because it is spring does not mean that I give up my love of making big pots of soup. This evening I was Italian-inspired (perhaps this can be attributed to hanging out with my very Italian roommate/UCC contributing editor Wendy Lloyd). This recipe for Italian White Bean Soup has its origins in Cooking Light, but with my own unique modifications it made it onto tonight's table.

Too Hot for Wendy Soup

1 ounce of dried shiitake mushrooms - I used 1 cup of diced baby portabellas, because that's what I had in my fridge
2 cups boiling water (omit if you used non-dried mushrooms)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary - in this case, fresh from my urban windowbox!
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 can white beans/cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
4 cups chicken stock - obviously, I used vegetable stock

Heat the onion and the garlic in olive oil, I used the bottom of Wendy's big caste iron pot so I could use make the soup in the same pot. In a separate pot, I dissolved two vegetable cubes in 4 cups of water (obviously if you use vegetable stock or chicken stock, you can skip this step).

Once the onion and the garlic are soft, add the mushrooms, and herbs (rosemary/thyme/pepper). Once the mushrooms are cooked down, add the vegetable stock from the other pot, then the spinach and the white beans.

Let everything incorporate and heat for about ten minutes, then serve.

Notes:

Crusty bread is very good with this soup!

It's really strong in flavor, as Wendy learned, so if that's not your bag, this isn't the soup for you!

-Robin-