Bacon and White Bean Soup

My first post is the recipe for my go-to comfort soup with a twist.

The original recipe is a vegetarian white bean soup with lots of herbs and spices. I decided to forgo the meat-free option and top it off with bacon! Bacon makes everything better. 

I think the saying should be "the bacon on top" au lieu de "the cherry on top". 

Of course, you can skip the bacon -- the soup is still amazing in its vegetarian form. 

What I love about this recipe is the simplicity. It is easy to make and most of the ingredients are items that I will have at home at any given moment, making it so easy to come back to again and again. Each time, I made a few adjustments until I found the combination that brings all of the elements together to create the perfect blanket of flavour and aroma.

Ingredients:

• 4 strips of thick-sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch stripes
• 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons chopped thyme
• 2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
• 2 teaspoons of herbes de Provence 
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 pound of Great Northern beans, soaked overnight and drained
• 4 cups of vegetable broth
• 4 cups of water
• Salt and ground black pepper
• Crushed red peppers

Directions:

Cook the bacon in a large pot until crispy. Set the bacon aside and reserve the bacon grease.

In the same pot, heat the olive oil. Add onions and carrots and cook them until they are soft, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, chopped thyme, herbes de Provence, rosemary and a bay leaf. Cook until fragrant. Add the white beans, vegetable broth and 3 tablespoons of the reserved bacon fat. Cover and allow to boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and allow the soup to simmer for 1.5hrs or until the beans are tender.

Season with salt, pepper, crushed red peppers. Add additional thyme and rosemary, if desired.

Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with bacon and enjoy.