White Bean and Bacon Soup

This delicious, hearty White Bean and Bacon Soup is the perfect winter recipe, scooped into bowls for lunch or dinner topped with a scattering of flat leaf parsley.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 200 g lardons
• 2 large shallots
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 900 ml chicken stock
• sprig fresh sage
• 1 x 750g jar white beans + the liquid from the jar
• sea salt, to taste
• chopped flat leaf parsley, optional to serve

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole over a medium heat. Once it is shimmering, add the lardons and cook, stirring often until they’re cooked through and starting to crisp. Depending on the quality of your lardons, this can take anything from 4-10 minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on a plate lined with kitchen paper. Meanwhile, trim / peel the shallots, carrot and celery before chopping into a fine dice.
2. 2If your lardons have given out a lot of oil, drain some off – you want about 1 1/2 tbsp remaining in the bottom of the pot. In general, better quality lardons will give off more fat.
3. 3Stir in the chopped shallots, carrot, and celery. Cook for 8-10 minutes until soft.
4. 4Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until caramelised.
5. 5Return the lardons and pour in the stock, and use the spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the sage and the white beans and their liquid. Stir well before allowing the soup to simmer gently, uncovered for 20 minutes.
6. 6Check to see if you want to add any salt (depending on your ingredients you might not need any) before serving in warm bowls topped with the chopped parsley.