Kale and White Bean Soup with Parmesan Crostini

I’m sorry H, this is another keeper recipe from your favorite (har har) celebrity-turned-cookbook-author Gwyneth Paltrow.

My good friend H isn’t a fan.

But her cookbook really and truly is good. I’ve made the burgers, a few chicken recipes, the nicoise salad, roasted cherry tomatoes and now this soup and been happy with every single one. I don’t care who you are, if you’re recipe is good- you’re in.

If you want the “real thing” go buy her cookbook because this is my version inspired by the real thing, a.k.a. inspired by my quick once over, later spit out and recreated from my ~~imagination~~ memory. Ok, sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word spit in a food related post.

Honest to God it’s delicious (coming from this non-soup girl!)- even Lilly had quite a lot of bites- carrot, white beans, and kale… now I’d call that a pretty good dinner for my chicken nugget loving two year old.

So here you go.

Kale and White Bean Soup with Parmesan Crostini:

2 Cans of white northern beans rinsed and drained
1 large shallot, diced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 large carrots sliced into rounds
1 big bunch of green kale, chopped into smallish pieces (exact science here)
4 cups of vegetable stock
salt to taste
(here’s where I would add freshly ground black pepper but our pepper grinder is on hiatus)

In a large stock pot saute onions, shallot and garlic until fragrant but not brown. Add the carrots and cook for a few minutes over medium heat. Add beans, and salt and stir to combine. Add veggie stock and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to medium low and add the kale one handful at a time allowing it to wilt down into the liquid. Let the soup simmer on the stove for about a half hour to let the flavors meld.

While the soup is simmering, make your crostini.

Slice a french baguette or italian bread into rounds and brush with olive oil (or if that’s too complicated, spray all the pieces with pam olive oil spray and call it a day). Lay the slices on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until toasted and lightly golden brown. These are your dunking vessels- please don’t skip them. Or don’t tell me if you do. I would probably cry.

Serve the crostini on top of the soup and enjoy. It’s that easy! I froze a big ziplock of this soup to pull out at a later date. If I had remembered (I have the memory of an elephant, can’t you tell?) I would have picked up some italian sausage and added that or whipped up some chicken meatballs or something. We’re meat eaters over here at the DM house and sometimes meals just don’t seem complete without it. But this was great and satisfying and B and I agreed we’d have it again.

Thank goodness because now it’s in my freezer…

Oh, check out our wimpy carrots.