white bean soup – Blue Kitchen

Variations of this soup are made in Tuscany, France and the UK. This version combines white beans, sage, shallots, garlic, wine and sausage in a soup hearty enough to be a meal. Recipe below.

AS FALL SETTLES IN HERE IN THE MIDWEST, our tiny garden is mostly shutting down. The tomatoes are over, the basil looking forlorn. But our sage is still going to town. So when I came across a recipe for Tuscan-style white beans that used sage on Saveur’s website, I mentally filed it away. Then overnight temperatures in the 40s last weekend had us turning on the furnace and me thinking of soup. Specifically, a white bean soup with sage. Continue reading “Border-blurring comfort food: White Bean Soup with Sage and Sausage” →

White Bean Escarole Soup with Turkey Meatballs is a healthy, hearty, flavorful meal—perfect for a cold winter’s evening. Recipe below.

Never underestimate the power of a bored bartender. In January 2009, Chicago editor and writer Martha Bayne was tending bar at the Hideout, a comfortably divey music venue in an industrial corner of the city. Her midweek shifts meant small crowds and smaller tips, so the bored and broke Ms. Bayne came up with an idea to liven things up and do some good.

What she, fellow staffers and regulars cooked up was Soup and Bread. It’s a weekly free dinner of homemade soups cooked by the aforementioned staff and regulars as well as local musicians, writers, artists and professional cooks. Other treats include fresh bread and the occasional muffins, pie or cookies. While the dinners are nominally free, a donation is suggested. In the two years Soup and Bread has been going, it has raised more than $10,000 for Continue reading “Another reason to thank a bartender: White Bean Escarole Soup with Turkey Meatballs” →