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Tuscan-style spelt and bean soup
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Source: https://recipheon.com/en/recipes/soups/tuscan-style-spelt-and-bean-soup
About this recipe
Spelt soup combines wheat grains with beans and vegetables in a thick, hearty dish inspired by Tuscan cooking. This home version uses whole spelt berries, soaked beforehand, and cooked cannellini beans. Half the beans are blended with broth to give the soup a creamy texture without cream. The remaining beans stay whole, as do the tender, slightly chewy spelt berries. Onion, carrot, celery, a little tomato and rosemary create a fragrant base. The soup thickens during a short rest, so keep some broth in reserve to adjust its consistency before serving.
Ingredients
Spelt and beans
200 g dry whole spelt berries (Triticum spelta), hulled but not pearled; not cracked grain or instant grains
800 ml cold water for soaking the spelt, to be discarded
480 g cooked cannellini beans, weighed after draining and rinsing; canned beans are suitable
1.5 l ready-made vegetable broth — 1.2 l for the soup and up to 300 ml in reserve
Vegetables and seasoning
120 g onion, weighed after peeling
120 g carrot, weighed after peeling
80 g celery stalks, weighed after trimming
6 g garlic, weighed after peeling
200 g canned peeled tomatoes with their juice
50 g extra virgin olive oil — 40 g for cooking and 10 g for serving
2 g fresh rosemary sprig, to be removed before serving
5 g fine salt — 3 g for cooking and up to 2 g after tasting
0.5 g ground black pepper
Steps
Rinse the spelt, cover with 800 ml cold water and refrigerate for 6–8 hours. Then discard all the water and rinse the grains again. This recipe uses whole unpearled spelt berries; pearled or precooked grains have a different preparation time. The total time includes 6 hours of soaking, so add any longer soaking time separately.
Divide the drained and rinsed cooked beans into two portions of 240 g. Blend one portion with 200 ml broth taken from the initial 1.2 l, and leave the other portion whole. Do not use the liquid from the can. Cut the onion, carrot and celery into small cubes about 5 mm across, finely chop the garlic and crush the tomatoes with their juice.
AI-generated Heat 40 g olive oil in a saucepan of about 3–4 l capacity over medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery with 3 g salt. Cook without a lid for 8–10 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables start to soften but are not deeply browned. Add the garlic and rosemary sprig and stir for about another minute, without burning the garlic.
Add the drained spelt and pour in the remaining 1 l broth from the initial portion. Bring to a gentle boil, cover with a small gap and cook over low heat for about 45–60 minutes. Stir along the bottom occasionally. The grains should be tender all the way through while keeping their shape and a slight chew. If the liquid reduces too quickly, add hot broth from the reserve. Cook firmer batches of grain a few minutes longer; do not continue to the next step while the centers are distinctly hard.
Add the blended beans with all their broth, the remaining 240 g whole beans, the tomatoes with their juice and the pepper to the tender spelt. Cook gently without a lid for 10–15 minutes, stirring often along the bottom, until the flavors come together. The soup should be creamy but still flow easily from a ladle. Add a little hot broth from the reserve if needed. Do not strain the soup and do not blend the cooked grains or whole beans.
Remove the rosemary sprig, turn off the heat and leave the soup covered for 10 minutes. Taste it and add only as much of the reserved 2 g salt as needed. If the soup becomes too thick after resting, loosen it with the remaining hot broth from the reserve. Divide all the soup into four portions and drizzle with the remaining 10 g olive oil, sharing it between the bowls. Serve warm, with the whole grains and beans still visible.
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