Creamy Roasted Garlic White Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 head of garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for rubbing on the garlic
1 large leek, thinly sliced
3 carrots, sliced
4 celery stalks, sliced
½ teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaf
1 cup dried navy beans, soaked overnight
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (divided)
2 cups Silk Unsweetened Cashew Miik
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt to taste (I used ¼ teaspoon)
A hearty and flavorful winter meal that can easily be made vegetarian, if desired.
Instructions
For the Garlic: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off of a head of garlic, so the top of each garlic clove is visible. Drizzle on a little olive oil (~½-1 teaspoon), and rub in with your fingers. Wrap in foil and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, until golden (reference image in post).
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the leeks and a small pinch of salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until softened (about 3 minutes). Stir in the carrots, celery and sage, and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
Pour in 2 cups of the broth (reserving ½ cup for later), along with the milk, pepper and beans. Boil over medium heat, uncovered, until beans are softened and soup is thickened. For me this took about 50 minutes, but all dried beans are different so taste as you go. If your soup takes longer than 50 minutes and you’re running low on liquid, add a little water (¼ cup at a time) as needed.
Once the beans are tender, transfer one cup of the soup to a blender along with the remaining 1/2 cup of broth and 4-6 cloves of roasted garlic, and blend until smooth. Stir the blended soup back into the pot. Taste and add salt as needed to taste - I added about 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt.
The soup gets thicker when chilled, so you may want to add a splash of water when reheating
Recipe and image courtesy of Creamy Roasted Garlic White Bean Soup - Veggie and the Beast (veggieandthebeastfeast.com)