EASY AND FAST BORLOTTI BEANS AND PORCINI SOUP

Soup - vegetarian - lactose and gluten free

2 oz Italian dried porcini
3 14-oz cans Italian borlotti beans, drained
4 oz white mushrooms, cleaned and diced
1 carrot
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp Italian extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
5 cups warm broth (chicken or vegetable)
Salt, pepper, rosemary and sage

Soak mushrooms in lukewarm water for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, chop onion, carrot and celery together. In a big saucepan saucepan with lid over medium-high heat, warm up 1 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp broth and sautee all chopped vegetables until soft, then add beans and 4 cups of broth.

Add herbs, lower heat to low, cover with lid and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Drain porcini, carefully filter the water and add it to the beans soup; keep cooking for about 15 more minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper, if you like it. Cut big slices of porcini into smaller pieces.

In a skillet over medium-high heat warm the remaining olive oil and sautee garlic until golden, then add white mushrooms and porcini. Season with salt. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and cook until desired doneness, using some tbsp of the beans soup broth, if necessary.

Blend some of the beans soup, in order to obtain a thicker soup, then stir in the mushrooms.

Serve in individual bowl drizzled with Italian extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with some more freshly chopped parsley.

This recipe serves 6-8


- This soup should be thick and creamy, if too thick add some more broth.
- You can cook some Italian pastina in the soup, or some Italian ditalini.
- You could substitute the borlotti beans with Italian cannellini beans or do a mix of the 2 varieties.