White bean soup shooters with sage

The ProStart competition is always second semester, so when the kids come back from break, we start hitting the recipes pretty hard trying to find something that will work. We spend days making just appetizers, just veggie sides, just steaks, just desserts, and just starches (in various orders) until we decide what we like and what goes together. After that, we make those recipes again (or create our own based on an idea from a recipe or from a student) until they have something they are completely happy to present to the chef judges. There are often debates over which idea is better and what goes together, but this was one of those recipes that there was no debate--as soon as they tasted it, they all decided it was their favorite, and all the appetizers weren't even ready to try yet! They tried everything else and kept coming back to this one, and I'm glad they did, because it's excellent. They are serving it as a shooter, but a bowl of it would be perfect for dinner with a piece of crusty bread. Plus, it's pretty easy and just requires one burner!

White bean soup shooters with sage

makes 6 double shot glasses of soup

1/2 strip bacon, diced
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp chopped shallots
8 oz cannelinni or great northern beans, drained and rinsed
2 leaves fresh sage
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
~3 tbsp heavy cream
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
crusty bread, toasted
goat cheese for garnish

Fry bacon until halfway done, then add shallots, garlic, olive oil, and butter. Saute until soft. Add beans, sage, garlic, and broth and simmer for eight minutes. Mash (they can't use electrical eqiupment, or you could puree with immersion blender) until nearly pureed. Add cream and cayenne pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning and consistency as desired. Put a couple of crumbles of goat cheese in bottom of shot glass (so the "shot" finishes with soup as if it's on top), then pour hot soup into glass. Top with crusty bread crouton and sage leaf and serve warm. (don't serve piping hot so you don't burn your guests!)

from Food Network magazine, recipe written by Ted Allen