Recipe - The Belgian Lions White Bean Soup

For the Beans
1 pound Great northern beans
2 Carrots
2 Stalks celery
1 lg Onion
Fresh thyme
Bay leaves
Sea salt
For the Soup
2 qt Chicken or beef stock*
3 Carrots; chopped
2 Leeks (white part only);
chopped
1 Red onion; chopped
5 Cloves garlic; chopped
1 bn Chopped fresh spinach or red
Swiss chard; optional

For the beans: Place all ingredients in a pot and cover with plenty of
water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until beans are done. Leave beans
a bit underdone. Discard the vegetables and keep beans in cooking broth.

For the soup: *1 to 2 quarts of good chicken or beef broth. Chicken or beef
is a matter of taste and the amount you use will determine how thick the
soup will be. If you serve the soup as one course of a several course
dinner you probably want to keep the soup rather thin. On the other hand,
this soup can be served as a main course and then could be served quite
thick.

Place all the ingredients except spinach or chard in a heavy pan with some
good olive oil. Saute the vegetables without browning. Keep them firm.
Strain the beans and add them to the other vegetables. Add the amount of
stock you want and bring to a gentle simmer. Add salt and black pepper to
taste. If you are using spinach (my preference) or chard, coarsely chop the
leaves, discarding the stems and add to the soup.

If you are serving the soup as a main course you may serve it accompanied
by a good country bread and grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese.
Posted to recipeludigest by "Crane C. Walden" cranew@foothill.net on Feb
7, 1998