The Mosaic Crimes - Creamy Italian White Bean Soup

"Here you are, Messere!" The host's voice took his mind off his worries. The man placed a wooden platter in front of him, containing slices of dark bread soaked in a reddish slop. On top were two slabs of cheese with a thick, moldy rind. "And here is some wine, true nectar of Saint Dennis!" he exclaimed, setting down a moist earthenware jug.
"Dionysus," Dante muttered.
"Saint Dionysus?"
"No, Dionysus the god."
"By God, Messere, you are right; the other was Saint Damian."
The prior dismissed him with a nod and looked around for a spoon. He resigned himself to using his fingers, and after having rolled up his sleeves, scooped up and swallowed a dripping mouthful. Not so bad, aside from the mold on the cheese, and not too different from what the kitchens of the Priors' Palazzo dished out, he thought as he fell upon the wine.

-The Mosaic Crimes by Giulio Leoni, Anne Milano Appel

There are some books which sound good in the description, but wind up being disappointing to me. Sad to say, this is one of those. I typically enjoy reading books that are along the lines of The Last Cato, The Da Vinci Code, or Labyrinth. They are not exactly what I would call fine literature, but they are entertaining and keep me on the edge of my seat.

This book, centered around Dante Alighieri and his quest to solve a handful of mysterious crimes, never swept me into the story. Dante was portrayed not as a hero, but more as a self-centered jerk and in the end did little that was impressive. The only real impressive thing was how often he managed to be in a tavern and seem to only subsist on wine. The above quote is the only mention of food in the entire book (at least that I recall).

I was so uninspired that I had a hard time coming up with something to make. I wanted to stay true to the book and make some kind of red Italian soup with bread, but I just couldn't do it. I finally decided upon a creamy Italian white bean soup, which was justified because it says "Italian" right in the name. So there you go, Dante - hopefully a better meal than the slop you had earlier.

Creamy Italian White Bean Soup

• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 pound white Great Northern beans, already cooked (1/2 pound dry makes about 2-3 cups cooked beans)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 cups water
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

In a large saucepan, heat oil. Cook onion and celery in oil for 5 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic, and cook for 30 seconds, continually stirring. Stir in cooked beans, vegetable broth, pepper, thyme and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer for 15 minutes.

With slotted spoon, remove 2 cups of the bean and vegetable mixture from soup and set aside.

In blender at low speed, blend remaining soup in small batches until smooth, opening up the center piece of the lid so the steam can escape. (If you have a blender like a VitaMix, you can probably get away with doing it all in one batch like I did.) Once blended pour soup back into stock pot and stir in reserved beans.

Bring to a boil, occasionally stirring. Stir in spinach and cook 1 minute or until spinach is wilted. Stir in lemon juice, remove from heat, and serve.

I liked this soup, but I cannot say that I loved it. It definitely was creamy, and the spinach was a good addition to give it a contrasting flavor, but it seemed like something was missing. I couldn't place my finger on it though. Maybe it needed to be more hearty, or different beans. I used Great Northern, but perhaps I should have gone with a white bean with more flavor.

Sorry Dante, maybe this wasn't your kind of soup after all.