Creamy Cannellini-Broccoli Soup - Healthy Recipe Ecstasy (2024)

I hope you guys aren’t sick of me espousing the amazing qualities of white beans because, I’msorry to say,I’m nowhere near finished yet. In fact, I pretty much cleared the shelves of every grocery store in a two-mile radius of all white beanproducts in order to make two recipes thisweek that use white beans in ways that will blow your mind. Ok, maybe that’s a little extreme, but using white beans to fake a creamy base for soupand faux-fredoblows my mind because (a) the creamy factor and (b) the taste factor. Who knew white beans carried such a great flavor? Oh, wait. Everyone knew that but me. Let’s talk about this soup. I am forever trying to figure out ways to make creamy soup without cream and/or starchy potatoes. I’ve tried cauliflower. I’ve tried leeks. I’veused soy milk. And now the white beans. Eureka! It works.I had one little tester tasting spoonful, and I was doing a happy dance. Alasdair, on the other hand, took more convincing because my lovely husband doesn’t love soup as much as I do. I could eat soup all night every night, especially on these frigid, cold, snowy winter nights that seem to be dragging on FOREVER. I am literally watching snow blog sideways and it’s MARCH.Alasdair, on the other hand, refuses to eat soup unless its Tom Kha Gaior Lobster Bisque or just REALLY REALLY GOOD. So,when I madeTasting Table’sbroccoli soup the othernight, I fully expected him to turn his nose up at a soup whose main ingredient is vegetable. Per usual, I asked that he at least try the soup but, as he made himself a plate of crockpot pork, potatoes and other goodies, I suspected he wouldn’t get much further into the soup than the one obligatory bite. I was wrong.He tookone spoonful and said, “this is pretty good.” Then he took another spoonful. And then another and another. Before I knew it he had polished off the entire bowl. Then, the next day I had to basically karate chop him away from the leftoverswhichI planned to slurp down at work for lunch. That’s right, World War Food almost broke out in my household over this simple broccoli soup that contains no dairy or grains – just veggies, beans, and stock.I, having made many a broccoli soup in my life, attribute this success solely to the whitebeans. Oh, and a little bit of credit goes to broccoli stems (much heartier than using just broccoli florets) andthe fennel which I decided at the last minute to add to the recipe. Just cuz fennel rocks (and it was taking up too much room in my fridge). So, I feel completely confident in saying whether you like soup or not, you have to try this cannellini-broccolisoup. It’s one of the most perfectly balanced soups I’ve ever made. Not only does itstrike just the right balance between creamy and brothy but the flavors – the broccoli, the fennel, the dill, the white beans – are all balanced in that way that just makes you go yum. 🙂