Tuscan bean soup with parsley pesto

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

Parsley Pesto

Tuscan Bean and Pumpkin Soup

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2.5 cm chunks
1 rib celery, cut into 2.5 cm chunks
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
2 small redskin potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
2 cloves garlic
30 mL olive oil
2 cans cannelli beans, drained and rinsed
225 g pumpkin, peeled and cut into 5 cm chunks (can substitute butternut squash)
1 425 g can chopped tomatoes
500 – 775 mL vegetable stock or water
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
10 mL sea salt
1 bunch swiss chard, thinly sliced
75 mL fresh parsley
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pesto is the first thing you will make to prepare this bean soup recipe: attach multipurpose blade to KitchenAid® 3.5 Cup Food Processor. Place cashews and garlic in work bowl and pulse 3 to 4 times until finely chopped. Remove cashews into separate bowl. Add parsley and parmesan cheese and pulse until finely minced. Return chopped walnuts and garlic to work bowl and pulse 2 to 3 times to combine. With Food Processor running on low speed, pour olive oil into the drizzle basin so oil slowly drizzles into pesto. Set aside until ready to use. Can be made 2 days ahead and stored in refrigerator.
Set KitchenAid® Multi-Cooker to Soup setting. Heat oil on Soup/Step 1. Add onion, garlic, carrot and celery and sauté 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add potatoes and add enough water just to cover. Press button for Soup/Step 2 and set timer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes is up add chopped pumpkin, beans, tomatoes, vegetable stock, rosemary, bay leaf and salt. Press button for Soup/Step 3 cover and set timer for 20 minutes. Add chard and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with black pepper to taste.
To finish this Tuscan bean soup recipe with parsley pesto, pour soup into bowls and top with a 1 to 2 teaspoons of the Parsley Pesto.

Makes 8 servings