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Tuscan White Bean Soup with a Parmesan Crostini

Tuesday, Jul 28, 2009 | Updated 11:47 PM EST

Serves four or More

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
½ cup onions, diced
¼ cup celery,diced
¼ cup carrots, diced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
½ tsp. rosemary, minced
2 cans white beans, drained (15 oz. cans)
1 quart chicken or vegetable broth
French bread slices, rubbed with olive oil, toasted until crisp
½ cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Salt and black pepper

Heat a heavy-bottom soup pot on medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onions, celery and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened -- about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and rosemary, cook for 30 seconds. Add the white beans and chicken broth to the pot, cover, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are very tender.

Puree the soup if desired with a hand blender, or mash some of the beans with a hand potato masher.

Season soup to taste with salt, black pepper and Parmesan. If soup is too thick for your liking, thin with more broth or water. If soup is too thin for your liking, simmer without a lid a bit longer to reduce.

For the Parmesan croutons, top the toasted bread slices with some of the grated cheese and put in the oven just to melt.

Serve with the soup and enjoy!