WEDDING SOUP WITH WHITE BEAN BALLS AND KALE

WEDDING SOUP WITH WHITE BEAN BALLS AND KALE

yields 6 PEOPLE WHO CAME HUNGRY

ingredients

  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 3 cup cooked white or cannellini beans
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
  • 3 clove garlic
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast or flour
  • 2 TBL olive oil
  • 1 TBL soy sauce or tamari
  • 2 tsp seasoning blend
  • 1 tsp each dried thyme, basil, and oregano
  • 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 2 carrots
  • 2 ribs celery
  • 3 clove garlic
  • 1 cup small dried pasta
  • 9 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 TBL fresh lemon juice
  • 4 cup kale or other dark, leafy greens
  • 1/4 tsp each Salt
  • pepper
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley or basil

Instructions

0 chop carrots and celery

1 Crank your oven to 400°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

2 Now, make the bean balls. Chop up the onion and measure out .25 cup. Save the rest but

push it to the side; we’ll use that in a bit. Mash up the beans in a large bowl until they

form a paste. Some whole bean bits are cool, but try to keep that to a minimum. Stir in

the rest of the ingredients including the .25 cup chopped onion and mix it all up so that

everything gets distributed. You might need to use your hands to really get in there. Don’t act

like you’re too cool to touch bean paste. If it feels a little dry, add a TBL or two of water.

Roll the dough into balls about the size of a golf ball and put them on the greased up baking

sheet. You should get 20 to 25 depending on your rollin’ skills. Spray them with a little

cooking spray and bake them for about 30 minutes, turning them over halfway, until both sides

are golden brown.

3 While the balls are cooking, get your soup ready. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over

medium heat. Add the rest of that onion from earlier (told ya), the carrots, and celery and

sauté until the onion starts to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and pasta and cook for

30 more seconds. Gently pour in the broth and let it all simmer together until the pasta is

tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Fold in the lemon juice, greens, salt, pepper, and parsley and turn off

the heat.

4 When everything is ready, place 3 or 4 bean balls in the bottom of a bowl and gently ladle the

soup over them. Serve it up right away. The balls will slowly break apart as you eat and

everything will taste so damn good together you’ll understand why the it’s called wedding

soup.

Modifications

Or two 15-ounce cans. Kidney beans would work, too, but those mother ers are red and we didn’t want to

change the name of the recipe. Truth.

Orzo, elbows, stars, letters, whateverthe you got.

1 Creamy Black Bean and Cilantro Dip

2 Baked Zucchini Chips

3 Cumin-Spiked Pinto Bean Dip

4 White Bean and Rosemary Hummus

5 Baked Spicy Plantain Chips

6 Sweet Corn and Black-Eyed Pea Dip