White bean soup with pesto dumplings

November 5, 2022

   

We've been home-cooking plenty in the past few months - it's just been focused on tried and true recipes more than anything new. But I was moved to browse my soup-tagged bookmarks this week when Michael came down with a cold, and he picked out this Heidi Swanson recipe for white bean soup with pesto dumplings.

Dumplings sound comforting but also like a lot of effort; I'm happy to report that only the first point is true in this recipe! They're just a simple floury batter that's dropped directly into the soup one big spoonful at a time, with no fiddly rolling or folding in their construction. An egg (and possibly the pesto available to you) get in the way of this being vegan, but I agree with Swanson that the egg could simply be substituted with a bit of extra liquid as it's not supplying crucial binding here. 

The soup itself is a simple mixture dotted with onion, carrots and white beans, thickened with a lot of flour. The flavour is really governed by your choice of herbs and pesto. I reckon that a bit of lemon rind, parmesan or nooch in the dumpling batter would brighten up the dish; I notice that Swanson included lemongrass in her herb mix and that probably served a similar purpose. In the bowl, the soft scone-like dumplings dominate the broth - they're perfect sick-time food and something we'll enjoy while well in winter too.

White bean soup with pesto herb dumplings

(a recipe from 101 Cookbooks)

soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced finely

2 carrots, diced

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

5 cups water or vegetable stock

salt, to taste

1 x 400g can cannellini beans, drained

dumplings

1 egg

2 tablespoons pesto

1 cup milk (Swanson used almond; I used soy)

1 cup chopped herbs, plus more for garnish (I used chives, parsley and dill)

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat up the oil in a very large saucepan and sauté the onions and carrots until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the caraway seeds and flour and continue stirring for a couple of minutes to gently toast the flour. Add the water/stock and salt and bring it all to a gentle simmer, stirring regularly until thickened. Add the beans and continue to gently simmer and occasionally stir the soup while you prepare the dumplings.

In a small-medium bowl, whisk together the egg, pesto and milk until well mixed. Fold in the herbs. In a separate medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the egg-herb liquid and mix until just combined. Drop generous tablespoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the soup. (Swanson warns us several times not to be tempted to go larger! And she's right, they do expand.) Cover the saucepan and simmer the dumplings for around 7 minutes; gently flip them over in the soup and give them another 7 minutes of covered cooking. Serve garnished with the extra chopped herbs.