Name: Brothy Fennel White Bean Soup
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 bulb garlic, tops sliced off; 1/4 cup evoo; 2 cipollini onion, thinly sliced (100g sliced); 2 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced (300g sliced); 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper; 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs; 1 tsp fennel seeds, ground*; 2 (14 oz) cans butter beans or white beans of choice; 3 small Yukon gold potatoes chopped into small cubes (220g chopped); 3 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed; 4 cups water or stock; 1/4 cup cream (use a creamy non-dairy cream); 2 cups finely sliced dino kale (40g); Garnish w/ finely minced chives

Description

This brothy fennel white bean soup is packed with both fennel and fennel seeds, along with creamy butter beans, aromatics, and chives, for an hearty soup that’s perfect for winter.

Ingredients

Scale

1 bulb garlic, tops sliced off
1/4 cup evoo
2 cipollini onion, thinly sliced (100g sliced)
2 large fennel bulbs, thinly sliced (300g sliced)
1 tbsp Aleppo pepper
1 tbsp dried Italian herbs
1 tsp fennel seeds, ground*
2 (14 oz) cans butter beans or white beans of choice
3 small Yukon gold potatoes chopped into small cubes (220g chopped)
3 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed
4 cups water or stock
1/4 cup cream (use a creamy non-dairy cream)
2 cups finely sliced dino kale (40g)
Garnish w/ finely minced chives

Instructions

Roast the garlic. Rub the garlic with olive oil, wrap it in foil, and roast it in the oven at 450°F for 30 minutes.
Prep the veggies and aromatics. Start off by prepping the onion, fennel, and potatoes. Since I used a small onion, I thinly sliced it across. For the fennel, slice the bulb in half, remove the core, and then slice thinly; alternatively, you can use a mandoline for this. Chop the potatoes into small cubes to cut down on the cook time – I typically aim for 1cm cubes, which take about 15-20 minutes to cook through and soften.
Sauté the fennel and aromatics. Add the olive oil, onion, and fennel to a large pot (I used a 4.5 QT Dutch oven). Sauté over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the fennel and onion are translucent – this takes around 12-15 minutes. Sprinkle in the Aleppo pepper, herbs, and fennel seeds, and saute for 1 minute to bloom. Lastly, add in the beans, potatoes, salt, and stock. Stir to combine everything. Reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover the pot with a lid, and let the soup simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 15 minutes).
Blend some of the soup and simmer. Once the potatoes are soft, ladle 2 cups of the soup into a jar or container (something you can use an immersion blender in), along with the roasted garlic. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth and return to the pot of soup, along with the cream and chopped kale. Stir together and adjust for salt as needed. Let the soup simmer a little longer until the kale has wilted.
Serve. Serve individual bowls with finely minced chives and crusty, heavily buttered, sourdough bread. Parmesan would also pair really well with this soup!

Notes

*I use my spice grinder to blitz the seeds into a powder – they have so much more flavor and aroma. 1 tsp of fennel seeds yields about 1 1/2 -2 tsp of ground fennel.