Eatwell Farmhouse Kitchen

serves 2-4

I used dried Marcella beans from Rancho Gordo, they are very similar to the Cannellini.  You can use pre-cooked canned beans.  The beauty of Rancho Gordo's beans is they fresher than most store bought beans (and of course delicious), so they don't need soaking and they cook rather quickly.  This can be done the day ahead, or over night in a slow cooker.  We just got a new Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker machine to use on Slow Cooker recipes.  I cooked the beans in there and they were done in less than 1 hour.  I cooked an entire 1 lb bag, so I would have beans for a few other dishes.

2 cups cooked Cannellini Beans or if you can get them, Rancho Gordo Marcella Beans

2 cups Eatwell Farm Chicken Stock or good Vegetable Broth, maybe a bit more

1 Onion, chopped

3 cloves Garlic, minced

About 1 tsp Eatwell Farm Rosemary Salt 

Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste

Arugula Pesto Ingredients

2 TB Parsley, finely chopped

1/2 bunch Arugula

1/2 cup + 2 TB Olive Oil, divided 

Zest and Juice from 1/2 Lemon

1/4 cup Parmesan, more if you like

1/4 Walnuts (optional)

In a pan heat 2 TB of olive oil and sauté onion and garlic on low until soft.  If you are anything like me, timing in these situations doesn't matter, temp does, and that is because I am always doing several other things, like washing the milking equipment or grabbing laundry off the line before it gets damp again (all of which I did tonight).  So the key is, if you are the one who is multi-tasking, turn the burner way down, otherwise, please stay focused and watch that the onion and garlic doesn't brown!  If you are cooking your beans, let them cool a bit before putting into the blender.  If using canned beans, rinse and put into the blender.  Add 1 cup of stock/broth, as well as the garlic and onion, blend on a lower speed.  As it is whirling add more stock and some salt and pepper and run until you have a very creamy consistency.  Make the pesto in the blender (you only need to give it a quick rinse).  To serve the soup, ladle into bowls with a dollop of Arugula Pesto in the center.  You won't use all the pesto in the soup, so you can use on a few other things later in the week.