Easy and Delicious Cold Weather Bean Soup.

White Bean Soup with Pasta and Rosemary Oil

The Rosemary Oil *
1/3 cup really good virgin olive oil
2 Tblsp finely chopped fresh rosemary or 2 Tblsp dried
2 garlic cloves, sliced

The Soup
4 cans (I usually end up using 6) white beans (cannellini, navy, or a combination; I also use garbanzo, but not alone)
2 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp chopped fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dried
1 large onion, finely diced
2 carrots, sliced into thin rounds
1 celery rib, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, sliced
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, with juice
3 quarts water/vegetable stock/chicken stock **
salt and freshly ground pepper

Parmesan rind (optional)***

1 cup small pasta, your choice

Thin shavings of or freshly grated Parmesan

The Rosemary Oil
Slowly warm the extra virgin olive oil with 2 Tblsp rosemary and 2 garlic cloves until the garlic begins to color, about 3 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside till needed. Let it steep awhile, then when ready to use, strain.
*This oil is fabulous added to many dishes. It's also perfect to use for dipping good bread.

The Soup
Drain and rinse beans. Heat the oil with 1 Tblsp rosemary in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook till the onion is softened and starting to color, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and parsley and cook for a few minutes more. Add 4 cans beans to pot along with tomatoes and 3 quarts **water/vegetable stock/chicken stock (as the grandchild of the Great Depression, we used H20; however, great flavor can be achieved by using stock, alone or in combination with H20). Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer briskly for about 30 minutes.
Puree half to all of the soup, depending upon how thick you want it, with an immersion blender or a standing blender.
Return to heat.
***I am a big fan of adding a piece of Parmesan rind to bean and veg soups. When you purchase Parm to grind or shave, save the rind, you can even freeze it. Throw it into your soup, it will burst with flavor! Remove rind (if it hasn't dissolved) before serving.
Add 2 tsp or so salt. Continue to simmer briskly another 30 minutes. If you pureed it so that most of the beans are gone, now is the time to add more beans, then simmer very gently while you cook your pasta.

Pasta
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water till al dente, then drain.

Finally
Ladle soup into bowls, add some pasta to each. Drizzle some of the Rosemary Oil over each bowl and add pepper to taste. Cover with thin shavings of Parmesan.

Serve
YUM!