Italian Vegetable Soup with Cannellini Beans

It's getting to be that time when most leaves are covering the ground, not the tree branches, and the evenings and mornings are getting quite cold.  My thoughts of dinner always revolve around getting into comfy sweats and having a good hot meal.  This is perfect to make a double recipe on a Sunday spent at home, saving leftovers for during the week.

This soup, adapted from Canyon Ranch's Nourish: Indulgently Healthy Cuisine, has many ingredients, but they are added at different times.  Once you get the pot going, you can prepare the rest as it cooks.  Note that there are very few steps in the directions!  The soup tastes relatively bland until the last step.  Adding vinegar is a good trick with many vegetable or lentil soups, even if you start out with canned soups - it gives them a little kick without being too spicy.

I was interested in experimenting with fennel, then came across this recipe, so I gave it a try.  I do like the taste and scent of fennel, so next I'll try roasting it, as I do with all my other veggies these days.  With all the other leftover vegetables, I'll probably stir-fry or roast them later in the week.

The beans add protein, making this close to a one-pot meal.

Ingredients:

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced yellow onions
1/4 cup diced fennel
1/4 diced celery
1/4 cup sliced carrots

1 cup unpeeled, diced tomatoes

1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/2 cup diced yellow squash

3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 tsp minced fresh oregano
1/2 tsp minced fresh thyme
1 tsp minced fresh parsley
1 small bay leaf

2 cups chiffonade of spinach
1 cup cooked or canned cannelloni beans, rinsed
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper


Directions:

1) Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Saute the onions, fennel, celery and carrots until the onions are translucent.

2) Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the zucchini and yellow squash and cook for 5 more minutes.

3) Add the vegetable stock, oregano, thyme, parsley and bay leaf and simmer for 1 hour

4) Add the spinach, cannelloni beans, vinegar, Parmesan, salt and pepper and mix well.  Remove and discard the bay leaf.