My daughters came up with the name for this soup because their grandmother gave me the recipe, and they call my mom Queen.....long story. Another suggestion was Queenie's 3 Beanie Soup. :-)
After having lunch at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, we stopped at The Fresh Market to pick up some ingredients for the soup. My mom used cannellini, black, and red kidney beans when she made this soup. I decided to use pinto beans instead of black beans, which are not my favorite in soups.
I always used to buy peppercorns to grind my own pepper, but I love Tellicherry Coarse Grind Black Pepper from Penzeys Spices. It's easier for measuring purposes, and provides me with a more consistent grind than my temperamental pepper mill. In Orlando, there is a Penzeys Spices store in Winter Park.
My mom told me that she used a cup of small bow tie pasta in her soup. I decided to use the new BiAglut Fusilli I had purchased from amazon. Knowing how much my daughters love pasta, I cooked two cups. Next time, I might cook three. My girls wanted more, of course.
My mother cooked her pasta right in her soup. I decided to cook mine separately and add it in at the end. Even though BiAglut behaves like a wheat-filled pasta and doesn't need a cold rinse, I was hesitant to cook it in the soup.
Queen's Three Bean Soup
Ingredients
1/2 large sweet onion -- diced
1 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic -- minced
4 C (1 quart) gluten free chicken stock
1 can Cannellini Beans -- do not drain or rinse
1 can Pinto Beans -- rinsed
1 can dark red Kidney Beans -- rinsed
1 can San Marzano crushed tomatoes (14.5 ounces) or a 10 ounce bag of fresh San Marzano tomatoes (diced)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp coarse ground black pepper
2 or 3 C of uncooked pasta
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese -- to taste
Extra virgin olive oil for garnish
Directions
Cook the onion in your soup pot over medium heat in 1T of olive oil until it begins to soften. Add the garlic, stirring constantly for a minute or two until it begins to brown. Add your chicken stock, beans, tomatoes, salt, thyme, oregano, basil, and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then turn your burner to low and put a lid on your pot. Simmer for 20 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, cook your pasta according to package directions.
Before serving, add the pasta to the soup. Garnish each bowl with grated Parmesan/Romano cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Serves 4 to 6
October 29, 2013 Update
My family liked this soup so much on Saturday, I decided to make it for dinner again tonight. I needed a dinner that I could prepare ahead of time because of my daughters' after-school schedule. When I made the soup the first time, I didn't know how long my mom cooked it for. She later told me that she usually cooks it in the early afternoon for about 30 to 40 minutes, then lets it sit on the stove until dinner time, when she reheats it. My mom feels that it is more flavorful this way. If you are pressed for time, you really can prepare this soup in 30 minutes using my previous directions. It's also a great make-ahead dinner.
After reading a disturbing article about BPA and canned tomatoes, I decided to use fresh San Marzano tomatoes tonight. I diced a 10 ounce bag of San Marzano tomatoes and was very happy with the results. I also added a 1/2 tsp of dried basil. I updated the recipe with these changes.
Tonight, I took a picture of my soup loaded up with Parmesan. Buy the good stuff! I purchase my Parmesan and Romano from the cheese section in Whole Foods. This time, I used about 3 1/2 cups of pasta. It was the perfect amount for us. I like a lot of "stuff" in my soup and not a lot of broth.
My mom gave me a bottle of her favorite olive oil when we were in Hilton Head. She always has my aunt bring her down a case from Pittsburgh. It's from the ultimate Italian Store -- Penn Mac in the Strip District. I finished my soup off with a drizzle of this very flavorful extra virgin olive oil. It was amazing!
November 10, 2013 Update -- 5 Bean Soup
Today, I decided to make a larger quantity of soup because I had 1/2 a container of chicken stock left over from making White Chicken Chili last weekend. I couldn't let that go to waste!
I used 6 cups of chicken stock, 5 cans of beans (cannellini, Great Northern, black, pinto, and dark red kidney), one medium sweet onion, extra spices (about 1 1/2 times the amount called for in the original recipe), 4 cups of gluten free fusilli, 4 cloves of garlic (2 tsp minced garlic), and a bag and a half of fresh San Marzano tomatoes (15 ounces). My husband declared it to be his favorite soup, and my girls devoured it, only pausing occasionally to ask for more cheese. :-)
Gluten Free Hard Cider Cranberry & Sage Bread
I love to make Gluten Free on a Shoestring's Herb Beer Bread. I usually use fresh basil instead of oregano in the recipe because my daughters were not huge fans of the oregano. Today, I decided to mix things up a bit.
I used hard apple cider instead of gluten free beer. Total Wine has a great selection of gluten free beers and ciders. Most hard ciders in the store are marked gluten free.
One of Nicole's readers talked about using hard cider and sage, and I thought that sounded like a great combination. I also decided that in the spirit of fall, I wanted to add some dried cranberries.
Another little experiment -- I used my muffin pans instead of my ceramic bread pan. It was easy to freeze the leftovers.
After only 15 minutes in the oven, I had 12 little hard cider cranberry and sage breads.
I thought I was going to have to listen to whining from my daughters about the cranberries, but with a little bit of butter, they gobbled them down without a complaint. I will definitely be making this recipe again, both ways.
Products used -- I used Better Batter Gluten Free Flour, Crispin Hard Apple Cider, 1/2 C of certified gluten free sliced cranberries (chopped) from Nuts.com, and Raw Organic Whey from amazon.com.
I also used 3T of fresh sage (chopped) instead of the oregano called for in the recipe.
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