Stuffed meal soup with white beans

Austria's star grape is grüner veltliner. But there is more. Important other white varieties are pinot blanc and riesling. The buying guide tells you all about it, but are you curious to know what to eat with it? Jolande Vos of I Love Food & Wine provides the right recipes. - TEXT JOLANDE VOS | IMAGE PEXELS.COM

Stuffed meal soup with white beans

You don't normally drink wine with soup, but you can with this well-filled vegetable soup with chicory and white beans. In particular, a white Austrian such as Pinot Blanc, a wine with soft acidity, is a good addition here. Serve with crusty baguette and salted butter and you have a fantastic vegetarian meal on the table!
Preparation 45 minutes.

What you need: (4 people)

• 3 stalks of chicory, halved lengthwise
• 50 g butter, melted
• 6 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp brown caster sugar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 100 g winter carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 fennel, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves of (smoked) garlic
• rosemary 2 sprigs
• vegetable stock 2 litres
• 400 g cannellini beans from a can, drained
• 100 g sliced kale (or cavolo nero)
• lemon juice
• salt, freshly ground pepper

This is how you make it:

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Meanwhile, prepare all the ingredients according to the list. Place the half chicory stalks in a large roasting tin (or on a baking tray with baking paper) with the cut side up. Slowly drizzle the melted butter over them. Do the same with the red wine vinegar. Finally, sprinkle with the brown brown sugar, (sea) salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the chicory starts to caramelise and turn dark brown at the edges. In a large soup pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil. Over medium-high heat, fry the onion, carrot, fennel for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring the vegetables so they don't burn. Add the crushed garlic and the sprigs of rosemary and fry gently for about 1 minute. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the cannellini beans and cabbage and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Remove the chicory from the oven and cut into large pieces. Spoon the chicory (with any remaining liquid) into the soup pan. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve the soup with a dash of extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese.

More recipes?

This recipe is from: FRESH FROM THE OVEN | AJDA MEHMET | PUBLISHER GOOD COOK | ISBN: 9789461432223 | € 20.95

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