Greek White Bean Soup With Garlic & Lemon

Can you think of a better winter comfort food than a white bean soup? Especially when its all made from scratch and therefore very nutritious as well. There are two traditional versions of Fasolatha (Greek White Bean Soup). The one is plainly cooked, flavored with lemon, like in this recipe, while the other version is made with tomato. Both are equally delicious and when it comes to deciding which one to make, I almost can never decide. But, there is one thing that I love about this lemony version of white bean soup. It’s so basic that you can add so many things to it. As it’s only made with onion, garlic, cannellini beans (or any other small white beans), carrot, celery, lemon zest + juice, and olive oil. So you can add anything like bacon, sausage, or my real favorite, almost any type of greens. Like spinach, (you can add kale, we don’t have it in Greece), or even wild greens.
→If you want to add bacon, or sausage (use Italian sausage), use about 200 grams /7 oz, add it when sauteing the onion and garlic.
→If you want to add greens like kale or spinach, use about 400 grams/14 oz, add them towards the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Ingredients:
250 grams / 8.8 oz cannellini beans (or other small white beans) soaked in water overnight
6 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
½ onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 carrot, cut into very thin slices
1 stick of celery, finely chopped
1 lemon zest + juice
kosher salt + freshly ground pepper, to taste
Optional: 500 ml vegetable stock

Instructions:
Prepare The Beans: Drain the beans from the water they’ve soaked in overnight. Half fill a cooking pot with water and add the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook for 3-4 minutes and then drain beans in a strainer.
TO MAKE THIS SOUP ON THE STOVETOP:
In a medium-sized cooking pot add the olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened and golden in color. Add the beans along with 1.5 liters of water (or 1 liter of water + 500 ml vegetable stock) and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium-low and with the lid on partly open on the side, simmer for about 2 hours or until beans are completely soft and tender (cooking time may depend of the variety and quality of the beans). Add the celery and carrot and season with salt and pepper. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally until the soup gets nice and thick. Then add the lemon juice and zest and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and serve with freshly ground pepper on top and an extra squeeze of fresh lemon if you like.
TO MAKE THIS SOUP USING AN INSTANT POT/PRESSURE COOKER:
Using the sauté function, add the olive oil and cook the onion and garlic until softened and golden in color.
Add the remaining ingredients along with 1,5 liters of water (or 1 liter of water +500 ml vegetable stock) and close the lid. Cook on manual for 20 minutes. Let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then turn the valve to venting. Once it releases the steam open the lid. Finish off with the lemon juice + zest.
TO MAKE THIS SOUP USING A SLOW COOKER:
If using a slow cooker, take the time to separately sauté the garlic and onion in olive oil until golden using a separate skillet as it will make a huge difference to flavor instead of adding everything in at once. Add the sauteed ingredients in your slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients except for the lemon juice + zest, and 1,5 liters of water (or 1 liter of water +500 ml vegetable stock) and cook either on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Add the lemon juice and zest and cook for 5 minutes more.
TO MAKE THIS SOUP USING THE SLOW COOK FUNCTION ON INSTANT POT:
Using the saute function, add the olive oil and cook the onion and garlic until softened and golden in color.
Add the remaining ingredients along with 1,5 liters of water (or 1 liter of water +500 ml vegetable stock) except for the lemon juice + zest. Put the lead on and switching on the slow cooker function to normal, cook for 8 hours or for 4 hours on high. Finish with the lemon juice + zest.

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