Amelie Christie-Miller's White Bean Soup with Hazelnut Rosemary Pesto

SERVES
3
PEOPLE
PREP TIME
40
MINUTES
COOKING TIME
40
MINUTES
CUISINE
Mexican
COURSE
Main
Method
Preheat a fan-assisted oven to 180°C and line a roasting tray with parchment.
Tumble the chopped parsnips, pears, onion and whole garlic cloves (skin on) onto the roasting tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with the cumin, salt and pepper and give it a good mix. Roast for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and have started to caramelise.
While the veg is roasting, make the hazelnut and rosemary pesto. Combine all the pesto ingredients in a blender and blitz until a chunky paste is formed. Alternatively, grind the ingredients in a pestle and mortar for an even chunkier texture. Season to taste. Add more olive oil to loosen if necessary (we added an additional 7 tbsp olive oil to loosen the mixture to our liking).
Remove the roasting tray from the oven. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and tip the contents of the try into a large, deep pan. Add the beans with their bean stock (we added 500ml), along with the additional stock, and blitz until smooth using a handheld blender. How much additional stock you add will depend on the consistency you like your soup. Heat the soup through until hot.
To serve, pour the soup into warm bowls. Top each one with a spoonful of the pesto. This soup can happily be made in advance (it will keep for up to 3 days) and can be reheated in a saucepan to serve. It will also freeze well; cook straight from frozen until piping hot.
Ingredients
3 medium or 2 large parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
2 pears, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3-4 fat garlic cloves, skin on
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin (optional)
700g jar white beans with their bean stock, or 2 x 400g can white beans with 200ml veg or chicken stock (we used 250g dried beans, soaked overnight and cooked the following day – this can take anything from 30 – 60 minutes)
about 450ml vegetable or chicken stock
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto:
small bunch of parsley (about 15g), roughly chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary leaves (or sage fried in olive oil until crispy)
50g blanched and toasted hazelnuts (or walnuts or pine nuts)
50g vegetarian hard cheese or Parmesan, or Pecorino, grated

Method
Preheat a fan-assisted oven to 180°C and line a roasting tray with parchment.
Tumble the chopped parsnips, pears, onion and whole garlic cloves (skin on) onto the roasting tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with the cumin, salt and pepper and give it a good mix. Roast for 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender and have started to caramelise.
While the veg is roasting, make the hazelnut and rosemary pesto. Combine all the pesto ingredients in a blender and blitz until a chunky paste is formed. Alternatively, grind the ingredients in a pestle and mortar for an even chunkier texture. Season to taste. Add more olive oil to loosen if necessary (we added an additional 7 tbsp olive oil to loosen the mixture to our liking).
Remove the roasting tray from the oven. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and tip the contents of the try into a large, deep pan. Add the beans with their bean stock (we added 500ml), along with the additional stock, and blitz until smooth using a handheld blender. How much additional stock you add will depend on the consistency you like your soup. Heat the soup through until hot.
To serve, pour the soup into warm bowls. Top each one with a spoonful of the pesto. This soup can happily be made in advance (it will keep for up to 3 days) and can be reheated in a saucepan to serve. It will also freeze well; cook straight from frozen until piping hot.
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