Creamy Broccoli & White Bean Soup with Lemon & Ricotta
This Creamy Broccoli & White Bean Soup is rich and luxurious, yet made without a drop of cream. Topped with soft ricotta, zesty lemon, fresh dill and crunchy pine nuts this soup is light and healthy, but doesn’t skimp on flavor!
Heat the oil in a medium soup pot until shimmering over medium heat. Add the leek, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds - 1 minute. Add the wine and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until most of the wine is evaporated, about 2 minutes.
Add the broccoli, stock and beans and increase heat to bring mixture to a simmer. Immediately reduce heat to maintain a simmer, and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until broccoli is fork tender. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or transfer the soup to a blender (in batches) and puree until smooth. If you used a blender to puree the soup, return the soup to the pot, over medium heat and cook until warm.
To serve: Ladle soup into bowls and top each with a spoonful of ricotta, pine nuts and fresh dill. Enjoy!
Notes
1. Make sure you rinse your leek THOROUGHLY. Leeks have a lot of dirt, or grit, trapped in their stalk, so make sure you rinse them well. I like to cut mine in half, lengthwise and then rinse them gently under cold water. The dark green tops of leeks are really tough and not suitable for this soup, so you will be discarding them. However, the dark green tops are great for using in homemade stocks! (Put the dark green tops in a Ziploc and store them in the freezer)2. The recipe calls for white wine, I used a dry chardonnay, but you can use any white wine you would like. 3. If you have an immersion blender, it makes for easier clean-up for this recipe. However, you can transfer the soup, in batches, to a stand blender and puree. You will want to return the pureed soup to the pot and place it over medium heat to warm.4. Toasted pine nuts in this recipe is optional, but if you have the time, toasting pine nuts really brings out their flavor. To toast pine nuts, simply place them in a dry skillet over medium-low heat and cook, stirring frequently, until golden in color and fragrant.