French Inspired Navy Bean Soup!

Okay, so this week I have been struck down with a cold- boo! Just the garden variety runny nose and cough but it still got me down BUT I made this great soup on Tuesday ( I think it was Tuesday)! It is so easy and so comforting and with really run of the mill ingredients that we all have in the fridge and cupboard. I call it French inspired Navy Bean Soup! Why French inspired? Well- I used my Herbes Provençales spice mix I purchased from Victorian Epicure and it really made the dish! Now don’t fret if you don’t have this mix on hand; I have some substitute options in my notes below.

I only have one picture (and it was taken the day after as a left over bowl-shhhh) because I wasn't really thinking to post this or really make up a recipe at all until I served it for dinner and Paul said “Wow, you should post this!” Now, let me tell you, it is pretty hard to get Paul excited for 'whatever I have in the fridge' soup but this is a must try!
I served this soup with Socca- a traditional French street food; it is made with garbanzo bean flour and looks like a crispy flat bread. It is naturally gluten free and vegan and I will definitely post that recipe as soon as I get a chance as it has become one of my favorite gluten-free sides to make and it happens to go marvelously with this soup!

French Inspired navy bean soup

Makes one large pot of soup; enough for a family of four plus leftovers.

Ingredients: 

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 small or 3 large carrots peeled and diced
• 1 zucchini diced
• 3 medium red potatoes peeled and diced small
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cremini mushrooms; approx. a cup, chopped
• 19 oz  can navy beans
• 2 tbsps. Bragg’s all-purpose liquid soy seasoning
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp Herbes  Provençales
• 2 Bay leaves
• ½ cup dried red lentils
• 2 bouillon cubes- I use GoBio Organic Vegetable BouillonCubes
• 10 cups water
• 150 grams or about 1 ½ cups dried gluten free elbow pasta

In a large pot over medium high heat place oil, onion, carrot, zucchini, potatoes and mushrooms and cook down till onions are translucent and vegetables are just beginning to brown, stir frequently. Add garlic, beans, salt, bay leaves and Herbes  Provençales and cook another minute.

Next add water, bouillon, red lentils and Bragg’s and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours.

Taste for salt and add the elbow noodles to the pot 10 minutes before you plan to serve.

Serve and enjoy!!

Notes:

The longer you cook this soup for, the better the taste and consistency it will have. You can definitely eat it after only 30 minutes but if you wait the extra hour the lentils and potato cook down to make the broth thick and creamy without the addition of flours or starches.  I recommend waiting the time or you could always throw everything into a slow cooker and go that route!

Herbes Provençales is a mix of spices traditionally used in the south of France. These typically include rosemary, savory, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, basil, oregano, parsley and bay. In North America, Lavender is added to this mix. My mix from Victorian Epicure contains lavender and I love the addition but if you do not have this on hand I would suggest: ½ tsp each of rosemary, thyme, marjoram and tarragon, 2 bay leaves that you remove before serving, and ½ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. If you don’t have one of these don’t sweat it- the rosemary, thyme and bay will do fine BUT I would strongly suggest either getting a mix with lavender in it or buying some dried lavender and making your own Herbes Provençales mix, you can use it for everything, seasoning vegetables, meats (if that’s your thing ;)), salads or I have even used it in a savory scone recipe! And it’s nice to pretend to be in the south of France every now and then :)