Rigatoni with Garlicky White Beans

So here we are several days into spring and I'm still cooking and craving winter foods. And why is that, you may very well ask? Because Mother Nature has decided to ignore the astronomical calendar and instead snow is predicted tonight. That's right, snow. At the end of March.

But instead of whining (or, at least to distract me from it), I've gotten back into the kitchen and revisited a delicious pasta and beans dish I adapted from Smitten Kitchen two months ago but never posted. This was the perfect occasion to remake it, perfect the pictures and write it up! This recipe is hearty and infinitely adaptable. You can use virtually any kind of pasta and any kind of bean. It's a great change of pace from tomato sauces and, even though it's vegan, it's definitely stick-to-your-ribs food. You can serve it with garlic-rosemary oil (instructions below), as we did the first night, but it's also delicious as is, reheated (or not) for leftovers. You can also swirl in a spoonful of pesto, homemade or from a jar. If you are eating peppers, I recommend a dash of red pepper flakes. And if you do want some meat, cook up an Italian sausage (sweet or spicy depending on your mood), chop it up and mix it in with the pasta. Leftovers also make a phenomenal soup. Bon appetit!

Pasta with Garlicky White Beans
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 1 yellow onion, quartered
• 5 baby carrots, halved
• 1 stalk celery, cut in thirds
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon green pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups water or vegetable broth
• 2 cans great Northern beans
• 12 ounces rigatoni (we used a kamut and buckwheat blend)
• 1 tablespoon rosemary

In a food processor, chop together onion, carrots, celery, 5 cloves garlic, parsley and pepper. (Be careful -- it goes quickly from chopped to pureed.). In a heavy pot over medium heat, heat 1/4 cup olive oil. Add chopped vegetables and sprinkle with salt. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so they color but don't burn or stick to the bottom of the pot. Add tomato paste, stir, and cook 1 minute. Add water or vegetable broth and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer 5 minutes.

Add beans and 2 other cups water or vegetable broth. Simmer 15 minutes.

While beans cook, boil water and cook rigatoni according to package directions. Drain well, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid.

Once beans are cooked and tasty, take out 1 cup and add it, along with 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid, into food processor (no need to clean it in between uses!). Puree, then stir back into beans along with rigatoni. Mix well.

While waiting for everything to come together, remove rosemary leaves from stalk and crush remaining 3 cloves garlic. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, heat final 1/4 cup olive oil. Add garlic and rosemary and cook just until starting to color, 2 minutes. Pour hot oil over rigatoni in bowls. Enjoy!

Links:

• Rigatoni, White Beans and Browned Butter from Eating Out Loud!
• Country-Style Rigatoni from Delish.com
• White Beans with Rigatoni from Taste of Home
• White Beans and Rigatoni with Kale from Washington's Green Grocer
• Tuscan Rigatoni & White Beans from Food.com

Pickled Daikon Radish with Onions

Like many Jewish New Yorkers, I grew up eating pickles. I only liked the sour ones and I would refuse any half-sour or (G-d forbid) raw cucumbers. As I put it, I only liked them when they were all grown up! And the only pickles I liked were pickled cucumbers. While my parents got excited about gourmet blends including dill tomatoes, I scoffed and picked out the pickled cucumbers (or "real pickles" as I haughtily called them).

Well, tastes change over time and now I eat cucumbers at all stages of their lives. I also got introduced to other pickled vegetables, first at Korean restaurants and then, as I explored Body Ecology Diet's recommendations of cultured vegetables. I discovered that lots of vegetables were delicious pickled -- greens, carrots and even beets. (I still think pickled tomatoes are a waste of good tomatoes, though.) And, as my tastes became more refined, I found that I liked a little kick in my pickles, be it from garlic, ginger or, as in this recipe, onions.

So when I stumbled across a recipe in Nourishing Traditions for pickled daikon radish, I was intrigued. Radishes often have a bite all their own (although daikon is much more mild). And, while I had never made pickles myself, this way I could control everything that went into them. And we all know how much I enjoy doing that! I ended up adapting this from a recipe from Vegetarian Times. The original called for jalapenos but, since I'm avoiding peppers, I used onions instead for my "kick". These are sweet and fairly mild -- a great addition to a salad or sandwich or, as I did for lunch today, served alongside some fish and fresh tomatoes. Bon appetit!

Pickled Daikon Radish with Onions

• 1 daikon, cubed
• 8 baby carrots, chopped
• 1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup lucuma powder

Place daikon, carrots, onions and sea salt in a large bowl. Toss well and let sit 1 hour to draw out excess moisture. Drain well, then transfer to jar(s), packing down well. In a small saucepan over high heat, bring vinegar and lucuma to a boil. Whisk until lucuma is completely dissolved (it has a tendency to clump so whisk or stir to dissolve). Pour liquid over vegetable mixture in jar(s). Refrigerate at least 3 hours. You can store these in the refrigerator for quite a while. Enjoy!

Links:

• Pickled Radishes from David Lebovitz
• Vietnamese Daikon and Carrot Pickles from Simply Recipes
• Vietnamese Pickled Carrot and Daikon from Pham Fatale
• Vietnamese Pickled Carrots and Daikon Radish from Closet Cooking
• Korean Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Pickled Daikon Radish & Cellophane Noodles from Blue Apron

Chard, Red Lentil & Potato Slow Cooker Soup

I don't know what the weather's been like where you are, but here in NYC, this winter has been a BEAST. Every time we think we're getting a respite (like today when it's sunny and in the 50's), it lasts for a couple of days and then, just when we're starting to relax, we're hit with another polar vortex and temperatures drop down thirty degrees overnight and stay that way for another week.

My favorite season is summer and I really do not handle cold weather well. So my first inclination at times like these is to hibernate and not leave the house (or my bed) again until spring. Sadly, that's not an option. But I can make soups -- warming, delicious, vegetable-filled, stick-to-your ribs soups, to be exact. Like this one that I adapted from Oh My Veggies, a fabulous vegetarian food blog that I just recently stumbled upon.

I had an enormous bunch of chard that was starting to wilt and so I wanted an easy way to use it up but I needed to be in and out of the house all day. However, I still wanted to come home to a hot meal. That, my friends, is a perfect time to dust off your slow cooker, fill it up and forget about it while you do sundry other things like go to work, defrost yourself and do laundry. Ah, laundry. Because the more clothes you have to wear, the more you have to wash (yet another reason to prefer summer).

But this soup only dirties two dishes -- your slow cooker and a skillet to saute the aromatics. And if you're lucky (and I am), both of those can go into the dishwasher. So, really, what have you got to lose? If you have the extra time, soak the lentils overnight with some kombu (or, if you're really good about planning ahead, even do it for a few days so they can sprout). If not, no worries -- they'll be just as delicious. I prefer red lentils for this soup since they melt down into the broth, making it into more of a stew. For extra protein, serve with chicken or, to make it heartier, over rice. Turn leftovers into lasagna. Bon appetit!

I'm making this my submission for Wellness Weekend, hosted and created by Ricki Heller!


Chard, Lentil & Potato Slow Cooker Soup
adapted from Oh My Veggies

• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 piece kombu
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• 5 baby carrots, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves separated from the stalks and everything chopped
• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon liquid aminos (or tamari)
• 1/2 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

If you have time, soak lentils and kombu in a clean bowl with enough cold water to cover them by several inches, for anywhere from 1 hour to 3 days. If going the sprouting route, change water 3 times/day.

Drain lentils and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic and Swiss chard stems and cook, covered, 8 minutes.

Place cooked aromatics, lentils, potatoes, broth and liquid aminos into slow cooker. Stir so everything is nicely mixed up together and cook 8 hours on low.

When cooked, stir in Swiss chard leaves and raise slow cooker temperature to high. Cover and cook an additional 5-10 minutes until chard is soft and has integrated into the soup. Serve, topped with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Links:

• Chard, Lentil & Potato Slow Cooker Soup from Oh My Veggies
• Lentil Soup with Swiss Chard from Food.com
• Slow Cooker Red Lentil and Swiss Chard Soup from Salt and Paprika
• Lentil Soup with Lamb Shanks, Slow Cooker from About.com
• Vegetarian Slow Cooker Lentils from Girl Makes Food
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Fennel, Celeriac, Parsley and Red Onion Salad

I'm spoiled. I live in New York City, surrounded by wonderful supermarkets (I have three to choose from everyday, not to mention the two that I choose not to frequent because there are better options) and one to two Greenmarkets within walking distance as well as countless others a short subway ride away. I can get fresh vegetables (in and out of season) and, while I try to eat seasonally to keep costs down and quality up, I don't fret about it too much if one of us has a hankering for eggplant or tomatoes in the middle of February.

As for how this affects my cooking, unless we're having company over, I try not to buy too many ingredients for any one meal (another side of keeping costs and waste down). So I take for granted that I'll have flavorful ingredients that don't need much to make them vibrant and tasty.

But this salad brought all these facts starkly into relief. A simple winter salad, it's a delightful mix of fennel, celeriac and parsley, all tied together with a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing and sprinkled with toasted pumpkin seeds. Sounds perfect, no? Well, it was good but neither my celeriac nor my fennel was anywhere near as flavorful as it should have been. So, while it was tasty, it wasn't fantastic. As the vegetarian put it, "The flavors are all good but they're so quiet!"

So why, you might ask, am I even sharing this with you? Because it is good. And it's a winter salad (which is exceedingly rare. And, if you make it with exceptionally fresh ingredients (like from a garden if you're lucky enough to have one), it will be phenomenal.

I'm entering this in Raw Foods Thursday on Gluten-Free Cat. Join us!

Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley and Red Onion Salad
adapted from the Washington Post

• 2 tablespoons raw (preferably sprouted), unsalted pumpkin seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 bulb celeriac, peeled and cut into long thin strips
• 1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• leaves from 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 1 avocado, cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss pumpkin seeds with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Roast 6 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

In a large bowl, toss together celeriac, fennel, onion and parsley. Add oil, lemon juice, sea salt and pepper and mix well. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Serve, sprinkling each portion with pumpkin seeds and avocado. Bon appetit!

Additions? If you want to add some protein, a can of tuna is a delicious addition. This also works nicely on a sandwich with some sliced turkey.

Drink? A glass of Riesling.

Links:

• Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley and Red Onion Salad from Washington Post
• Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley & Red Onion Salad from My Haus
• Fennel, Celeriac, Parsley and More from Delicious Dialogues
• Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley & Red Onion Salad with Lemon & Olive Oil from Svelte Gourmand
• Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley and Red Onion Salad from ZipList.com

Winter Minestrone

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed some time off. We certainly did! We celebrated for two weeks with friends and family and even got some alone time in (a trip up to Poughkeepsie where we first met and where we discovered a fantastic 50's diner/juice bar). All in all, it was a great month!

The only thing wrong with it, in my opinion, was the weather. Brrr! I am not a fan of cold and so winter is always tough for me (as evidenced by all the braised beans I kept making). It's so hard to be inspired you're cold and there's no exciting produce at the greenmarket. This month, I'll definitely make an effort to bring greens back into our diet but, in the meantime, I want to share this fabulous minestrone with you.

A thick, warming bean soup, chock full of vegetables and even some quinoa pasta, this soup is a meal in itself. It's fantastic sprinkled with crispy pancetta but, if you're serving vegetarians or anyone else who doesn't eat pork, it's just as good without. Serve with garlic bruschetta and Cranberry and Vanilla Bean Mimosas. Bon appetit!

Winter Minestrone
adapted from Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces pancetta, diced (optional)
• 3 yellow onions
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks fresh thyme, leaves only
• 1 26-ounce box, chopped tomatoes
• 6 cups chicken stock (can substitute mushroom stock)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups quinoa pasta (penne), cooked (1 cup dry)
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 1/2 cup sparkling wine
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add pancetta (if using), reduce heat to medium-low and cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Remove and set aside. Add onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic and thyme, raise heat to medium (if you lowered it for the pancetta) and cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent.

Add tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Raise heat and bring to a boil then lower and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, until tomatoes are falling apart.

Remove bay leaf and discard. Add beans and pasta and simmer 2 minutes, until beans are heated through. Add spinach and simmer, stirring, another 2 minutes, until spinach has wilted. Stir in wine and pesto. Serve sprinkled with cheese and, if desired, reserved pancetta and additional extra-virgin olive oil. Enjoy!

Links:

• Winter Minestrone from Food Network
• Winter Minestrone Soup from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free
• Sal Bizzarro's Winter Minestrone from The Colorado College Bulletin
• Slow Cooker Winter Minestrone from Once A Month Mom

Cranberry Bean Meatballs with Garlic and Allspice

When I was stuck at the airport in Burbank, trying to get home to the vegetarian after Hurricane Sandy,  I stopped into a 24-hour bar to get some dinner before my red-eye. It was the only place still open at the airport and I figured I could get a salad. But once I looked at the menu, the one thing that kept jumping out at me was spaghetti with meatballs. It wasn't gluten-free and it was overly rich and not very good but it was comforting, warming and perfect.

Since then, I've been thinking about how I can recreate spaghetti and meatballs for our gluten-free and vegetarian kitchen. The spaghetti part is the easiest -- we've become big fans of quinoa spaghetti and I'm (almost) starting to prefer it to some "regular" spaghetti. But meatballs? Neither of us likes using fake meat (although the idea of crumbled veggie burgers is one we still may try) and, anyway, I wanted these to be just as good (or better) than their meat counterparts -- not merely a substitute.


I made these with 2 cans of cranberry beans that I drained well and ground in the food processor. Unfortunately, they were softer than I had hoped and the food processor reduced them to more of a puree than a crumble. So next time I would use a harder bean (perhaps cannellini). So, even though these didn't stay together as well as we would have liked, the flavors were delicious. Serve over pasta with the Nero d'Avola you used in the sauce. Enjoy!

Cranberry Bean Meatballs with Garlic and Allspice
inspired by MyRecipes.com

"Meatballs"

• 4 carrots, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup cornflake crumbs
• 1 rice cake, crushed
• 1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon basil, finely chopped
• zest of 1 lemon, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 2 14-oz cans cranberry beans, drained and ground in a food processor
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sauce:

• 1 28-ounce can fire roasted whole tomatoes
• 3 yellow onions, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup Nero d'Avola
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 tablespoon basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped

In a large bowl, mix together carrots, salt, cornflake crumbs, crushed rice cake, parsley, basil, lemon zest, allspice, chili powder, black pepper, cranberry beans and garlic. Using your hands, mix until very well combined. Shape into ping-pong sized "meatballs", packing them tightly together.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat until it moves like water in the pan. Add "meatballs" and cook 1-2 minutes each side, until browned.

Add tomatoes, onions and garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add carrot, celery, red pepper flakes, Nero d'Avola, kosher salt and black pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, 6 minutes. Remove from heat and serve, garnished with basil and Italian parsley. Bon appetit!

Links:

• Pork Meatballs with Garlic and Allspice from MyRecipes.com
• Garlic Meatballs with Red Potatoes & Yellow Wax Beans from The Realistic Nutritionist
• Black Bean "Meatball" Hoagie from Beard and Bonnet
• Quick Italian Sausage for Soups, Meatballs, and Sauces from Netplaces
• Two Bean Veggie "Meatballs" from Jinxy Knows Best
• Slow-Cooker Spaghetti and Meatballs from CooksRecipes.com

BED: Moroccan Fava Bean and Vegetable Soup

Two and a half years ago, not long after the vegetarian and I started dating, I came down with mononucleosis. Being over 21, and therefore past the age at which people normally contract this disease, I was hit particularly hard and all-but confined to bed-rest for the next eight months. What a way to start a relationship!

Once I was allowed to resume my normal life, I did so with my usual gusto. Much to my chagrin, however, I found that my energy stores were much lower than they'd ever been before. Not to mention the fact that my immune system was now totally shot. So I experimented with different things -- vitamins, vegetarianism, a higher protein diet -- and, while there were glimpses of more energy, nothing worked long-term.

About a month ago, I was killing some time in Barnes & Noble and happened upon a book that promised to "rebuild my immunity": the Body Ecology Diet book. A skeptic, I nevertheless began reading the introduction and, much to my shock, I felt as though Donna Gates was describing my very symptoms. So I've put myself on the Body Ecology Diet, at least as well as it can fit into my hectic life.

The basic tenets of the diet are no sugars (including most fruits, some vegetables, no dried beans, no dairy and no gluten) and 80% of your plate should be non-starchy vegetables. Obviously some days (and meals) this is easier to follow than others. And living with a vegetarian who prefers grains and beans to vegetables has made cooking and meal-planning a challenge.

The good news, however, is that, frustrating as this has been, I've felt more consistently stronger and happier in the past three weeks than in the past two years. So, at least for now, this is the way to go. And don't worry -- our monthly cooking adventures will still be my monthly permission to myself to venture off. But for now, enjoy this soup with a Lemon-Chive Potato Salad and bon appetit!

Moroccan Fava Bean and Vegetable Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks
• 1 spring onion, (or garlic scapes), chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 radishes, diced
• 2 red-skinned potatoes, diced
• 1/2 pound frozen or fresh (not dried) fava beans (or green garbanzos), double peeled and (if frozen) defrosted
• 8 cups water
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 6 sprigs Italian parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot until it glides like water. Add leeks, onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add radishes, potatoes, fava beans, water, 1 teaspoon salt and parsley. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes.

Puree using an immersion blender. Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper, turmeric and cilantro and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring, 30 minutes. Add remaining salt and pepper. Serve warm, garnished with cilantro and remaining olive oil. Enjoy!

Inspirational Links:

• Moroccan Fava Bean and Vegetable Soup from The New York Times
• Moroccan Fava Bean and Vegetable Soup from Nourish

Tuscan White Bean and Bread Soup

Do you have food crushes? I certainly do. They're usually seasonal; for instance, every August, when heirloom tomatoes are all over the Greenmarket, that's all I want -- morning, noon and night. These days, it's white beans. The vegetarian and I have monthly dinner parties (called our monthly cooking adventures) in which I try out exciting new recipes (i.e. recipes that require more work than what I'd make for an average meal) and keep them as seasonal as humanly possible.

While at the Greenmarket (my favorite source of edible inspiration) shopping for our adventure, I found the largest carrots I'd ever seen. I love cooking with carrots (especially in soups); they provide an unexpected level of sweetness without ever having to add sugar. And it's a lovely counterbalance to beans' earthiness. Carrots are also one of those wonderful vegetables that, to me, always seem to add a layer of freshness, no matter how long you cook them.

And, because I'd be hard-pressed to cook without it, I used 8 cloves of garlic. Again, it seems like a lot but this soup was really not spicy at all. And with three monstrous carrots, the garlic just kept the soup in a savory world.

This soup is my take on a ribollita, a Tuscan soup made out of, primarily, white beans and day-old bread. Since I try very hard to avoid waste in my kitchen, I buy only as much bread as I need so day-old bread is something I try to avoid. But the good people at Cook's Illustrated understood my dilemma and suggested baking the bread to dry it out so that is exactly what I did and it worked beautifully. I also arrived at the Greenmarket too late for kale (the traditional green for ribollita) but there was lovely, spicy arugula so that's what we went with and it came out delicious. Serve with a salad and some Beaujolais Nouveau. Bon appetit!

Tuscan White Bean and Bread Soup
adapted from The Best International Recipe

• 6 cups ciabatta (about 3/4 loaf), cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans (separated), drained and rinsed 
• 1/4 cup + 1 3/4 cups Pinot Grigio
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 yellow onions, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (plus additional if necessary)
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 4 cups water
• 1 pound arugula
• 1 russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• Drizzle lemon-garlic olive oil
• 8 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 300F. Spread out ciabatta cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake 30 minutes, until they have the consistency of day-old bread. Remove and set aside.

In a food processor, combine 1 can cannellini beans and 1/4 Pinot Grigio until mostly smooth (it's fine if there are a few lumps so long as there are no more whole beans). It should take no more than 30 pulses. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat until it runs like water. Add carrots, onions and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and cook another 2 minutes. Add pureed beans, whole beans, remaining Pinot Grigio, water, arugula, potato and bay leaves. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 40 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in rosemary and 2 cups bread cubes. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Discard rosemary sprig and bay leaves and give everything a good stir to combine. Taste and add black pepper and, if necessary, additional salt. 

Place a small handful of bread cubes at the bottom of each serving bowl. Ladle soup on top. Drizzle with lemon-garlic olive oil. Serve, passing Parmesan cheese around separately. Serves 8.

Links to other white beans, carrots and garlic delicacies:

• Rosemary White Bean Soup from The Healthy Beehive
• Sausage, Potato, Veggie, and White Bean Soup from For the Love of Cooking
• Smoky Baked Beans from Momma's Meals
• Gigantes Plaki from Chef Marcus Samuelsson
• John's Grandmother's White Bean Soup from Beverly's Back Porch