Cannellini Bean and Fresh (Roasted) Tomato Broth: Simple for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

The problem with owning too many cookbooks is that there never seems to be enough time to get around to cooking from all of them. For example my copy of Off the Shelf: Cooking From the Pantry by Donna Hay has been sitting there for ages but I have not yet posted a recipe from it. Looking for a low-effort soup this week, I pulled it out and found  Cannellini Bean and Fresh Tomato Broth and headed to the farmers market for fresh tomatoes and oregano. 

 
I ended up with a mixture of local Roma and large yellow and red tomatoes and decided that I wanted to roast them to pull out their sweetness and flavor. Served with grilled locally-baked rosemary and olive oil bread, it was a tasty light and simple meal.

Cannellini Bean and Fresh (Roasted) Tomato Broth
Adapted from Off the Shelf by Donna Hay
(Serves 4)

6 large ripe tomatoes, quartered* (I roasted my tomatoes)
4 cups (1 3/4 pints) vegetable broth
1 (14 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used 2 cans)
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
grilled bread to serve

(Note: I felt like roasting my tomatoes so I just placed them in a baking dish and roasted them for about 45 minutes at 425 degrees. But, you could certainly don't have to roast them if you want a faster soup.)

Place the tomatoes and half the stock in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture through the sieve and place in a saucepan with the remaining broth over medium heat. Allow the soup to come to a boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes, then add the cannellini beans, salt, pepper and oregano. Simmer for 2 minutes and serve in bowls with grilled bread that has been drizzled with a little olive oil.

*Donna notes: "Using really ripe tomatoes will give the soup a wonderful sweet flavor. If perfect tomatoes are not available, you may need to add a pinch of sugar to help boost the flavor.  

Notes/Results: This was just a simple, basic but flavorful soup--easy to make and full of comfort. The tomato broth is good with the flavor of the tomatoes and oregano really coming through. I wanted more beans so I added and extra can. With the mixture of homemade garlic broth and a little "no-chicken" soup base with water, no extra salt was needed and the tomatoes were ripe and sweet enough and along with the roasting, I didn't feel any need for added sugar. You could of course add to this soup--other veggies, pasta, etc., but I think it stands well on its own. I would would make it again.

A soup, a couple of salads and a sandwich await in the Souper Sundays kitchen--let's take a look!

Sandra of Meadows Cooks shares this Simple Ramp and Asparagus Soup and says, "The soup has a real kick - just how my husband likes it. The cayenne really pops out of an otherwise mild melange. Potato is the mild filler with mild ramp and asparagus for flavor. I used white wine vinegar instead of white wine, and omitted the lemon juice, but think it probably is better as written. Spring brings us wonderful new produce as well as pollen. Here is my celebration of the positive side of new growth."  

Pam of Sidewalk Shoes made this pretty green side, Edamame and Mint Salad and says, "I’m always looking for ways to use my mint, so that I can keep it trimmed back and encourage spreading.  When I saw this salad in the April issue of Everyday Foods, it sounded so simple.  At first I thought the addition of butter was kind of weird, but it totally works.  The only thing is that, you really need to serve it at room temperature, because taken straight from the fridge, the butter solidifies a bit.   The flavors in this salad simply sing spring."

Topping her mango taco wraps with salad is Janet of The Taste Space with colorful Black Bean Tostadas with Tangy Cabbage Salad. Janet says, "It worked really well. While the beans crisped up in the oven, I made the beautiful cabbage slaw. It came together seamlessly. Call them tostadas with crispy flatbreads or roll them into tacos.  My mango wraps were crispy but if you let the beans sit on top of the wraps for a while, the wraps absorb some of the moistness and became pliable again. Because they were very thin, they were very delicate and made a big delicious mess. A beautiful delicious mess. I can’t remember the last time I bought red cabbage, but gosh, isn’t it gorgeous?"

Finally Spencer of Live2EatEattoLive Blog uses a homegrown tomato to make his BEST Sandwich and says, "So, I finally decided what to do with our little tomato. Mahalo plenty to all of you that suggested in the comments what to with our lone tomato, by the way. I decided to make a modified BLT sandwich, I call the BEST sandwich--Bacon, Egg, Shiso and Tomato. On toasted whole wheat bread. Pretty awesome (if I do say so myself). Hee hee!"

Thanks to everyone who joined in this week! If you have a soup, salad or sandwich that you would like to share, just click on the Souper Sundays logo on the side bar for all of the details. 

Have a happy, healthy week!