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– 3 cups dry white beans – 4 cloves of Garlic – 3 shallots or one white onion – 2 branches of fresh thyme ( I used lemon thyme - so yummy!) – olive oil – 1 teaspoon sea salt – 5 carrots – 4 big yellow potatoes or 8-10 new potatoes – 2 cups green beans – 5 zucchinis ( I mixed green and yellow) – 3 tomatoes – 2 cups elbow pasta or small shape pasta
Chop up the onion and garlic. Lightly sauté in a big soup pot ( I love my Le Creuset Caribbean Blue Stock pot) with olive oil. Add the white beans and 16 cups of water. Add a teaspoon of sea salt and 2 branches of thyme and let simmer for 45 minutes until the beans begin to soften. If you are using canned white beans this process needs only be 25 minutes. This is what creates your vegetable bouillon. While the bouillon is cooking, chop your tomatoes and zucchinis into little cubes. Peel and chop your carrots and tomatoes into little bite sized pieces as well. Snap the ends off your green beans and dice them into small sections.
Add the diced potatoes and carrots to the bouillon . Let simmer for 30 minutes stirring from time to time. Add the tomatoes, zucchini and green beans. Let simmer an additional 30 minutes before adding the pasta: then let simmer for final 15 minutes. If at any time you need to add more water - do so. The potatoes and the pasta absorb a lot of the liquid.