This recipe calls for white beans, which I had in my freezer, along with some broth I had made with leftover leeks a few weeks back. You can use canned beans, but be sure to rinse them first, and canned veggie or chicken stock (if you're not a vegetarian). If you cook your own white beans, save the bean broth to use in this recipe in place of the stock.
Here's how I did it:
Cut into small dice 1 new, fresh onion (rather than an old storage onion), 3 small zucchini or summer squash (I used the little yellow ones), 2 medium carrots, and 4 white mushrooms. Tip and tail a handful of green beans and cut them into 1-inch pieces. You can also add a couple small white turnips if you have them - which I didn't. Sliver 2 smallish garlic cloves.
While you're at it, cut up one large tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes. Have one marjoram sprig standing by.
Heat up 2 T. olive oil in a soup pot. Add the vegetables and the garlic and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, just to warm them up. Season with salt and pepper, and add 2 cups broth. Bring everything to a slow boil, pull the leaves off the marjoram sprig and add them in, and then lay a piece of parchment paper across the top to keep the veggies on top from drying out. The broth doesn't quite cover all the veggies.
Let that cook for about 10 minutes. While it's cooking, make the marjoram pesto. Deborah Madison recommends making this in a mortar and pestle. I started it that way, but then realized that my mortar was too small to make the whole thing, so I switched to a food processor. Either way, you just keep grinding stuff in.
Marjoram Pesto: Put one small slice country bread, crusts trimmed off, into a bowl and sprinkle 2 T. red wine vinegar over it. Leave it to soak. In your mortar or food processor, add 1 clove chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 cup marjoram leaves. (I used all the leaves from the whole bunch I bought at the store.) Then add in 3 T. rinsed capers, 1/2 cup pine nuts, and 1 cup chopped parsley. Add the vinegar-soaked bread and 1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil. Add a little pepper and taste for vinegar.
After the 10 minutes are up, stir in the white beans and a cup more broth. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are a pleasing consistency to you. Don't overcook them, though. Ladle the vegetables into soup or pasta plates and add a big spoonful of pesto to the top of each one.
We had this hot the first night, cold for lunch the next day, and room temperature a few days later. All three ways were terrific. We also had some leftover marjoram pesto which was wonderful on crackers.
We didn't bother making anything along with this, though Deborah recommends starting the meal with crostini, adding a salad, and a nice fruity white wine such as a Dolcetto from the Piedmont region of Italy, and having fruit for dessert.
I realized while I was eating that the whole dish is vegan, since there is no cheese in the pesto. While this isn't technically a soup, it is my current favorite non-creamy soup. The crunch of the vegetables and the zing of the pesto is just a fabulous combination.
Things I'd do differently next time:
I'd use the food processor to make the pesto. I might even make a double batch of it and put half in the freezer for later. It is REALLY good and I'd like to try it on pasta.
I might try making this with some other vegetables in the fall or winter.
Cost to prepare: (I'm really guessing here since most of this came from my CSA box, my garden, and my freezer)
1 new onion - $.25
3 small summer squash - $1.00
2 carrots - $.25
4 mushrooms - $.25
handful of green beans - $1.00
garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil - negligible
1 cup white beans - $.50
Broth or water - $.50
1 large tomato - $.35
TOTAL - $3.85
Marjoram pesto:
1 bunch marjoram - $1.85
a slice of bread and some vinegar - $.20
3 T. capers - $.30
1/2 c. pine nuts - $1.00
1 c. parsley - $.50
1/2 c. olive oil - $2.00
TOTAL - $5.85
GRAND TOTAL - $9.70 for 4 people or for several meals for 2 people
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