Tuscan white bean and basil soup

Today was definitely a soup day. Why? Well, while picking up groceries today I actually saw a few snowflakes. Whaaa... snowflakes?? A week ago it was in the 20s, and now it's time for snow??? Nooo! Too soon!!!

But since this is Calgary it's not entirely unexpected. So in the spirit of the recent return to seasonal temperatures, I decided to make a few soup-y/stew-y dishes. I made a pot of Trinchado, adding some sweet red peppers along with the hot ones - this is such an amazing time for peppers! But I also made a pot of this bean soup.

I'm not sure about this one - it tastes good, but the basil seems to be a bit overwhelmed by the other flavours. The basil was dirt cheap at the farmers market and I was happy to see it go to a good home, but I don't think it's necessary in this dish. Still, this is a pretty tasty minestrone-esque soup - M, I think you'd like it :-).

Tuscan white bean and basil soup
adapted from this (vegan) recipe

1 jumbo onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
5 new carrots, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
4 cans navy beans
2 cans chicken stock (could use vegetable stock)
a little dried thyme and basil
a generous whack of fresh basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
lemon juice

Saute the onion, celery, carrots, and first bit of garlic until softened. Add the tomatoes, beans, stock, and dried herbs and let simmer for a while (I let it go for a couple of hours). Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture, leaving a few rough chunks. Add the basil and let the soup simmer a bit longer. Add the garlic and lemon juice, and adjust the seasoning, and you're ready to dig in!