Buffalo White Bean Soup

The Buffalo Bills returned to Monday Night Football last night against the 49ers. As a Bills fan, I was naturally a little skeptical about the prospects of earning a W…after all, the last time it happened was 1999, and there have been some absolute heartbreakers in the intervening years (the Leodis McKelvin fumble in Foxboro and the Dallas Debacle in Orchard Park). So to appease the football gods, we decided to make a fusion dish to honor the culinary traditions of both cities (even though the game was played in Arizona…go figure). For Buffalo, the choice was obvious…Anchor Bar Sauce needed to be included! As the San Franciscan representative, we picked Sourdough (in part because we didn’t even think about Rice-a-Roni despite its nickname of “The San Francisco Treat”).

The next decision was how to put it all together. Since it was cold out, and we put up our decorations yesterday, we settled on soup, which then made the bread bowl the obvious way to incorporate the sourdough. For this soup, we kept it simple and vegetarian…using only 3 ingredients!

Either make your own bread bowls from scratch, or buy small sourdough loaves, and dig them out to fill…or serve your soup in bowls (dipping tortilla chips in would work if you’re doing this).

Since our fusion offering worked (yes, I am claiming all credit for the win), we might have to try a similar concept for next week’s Sunday Night game against Pittsburgh!

Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients (makes two servings):

  • 1 Can of White Beans (Great Northern Beans)…including the water
  • 4-5 Stalks of Celery
  • 4-6 Ounces of Buffalo Sauce
  • Optional: Blue Cheese to sprinkle atop
  • Optional: Small Sourdough loaves for bread bowls

Method:

  • Empty your can of white beans (including the water they were packed in) into a soup pot or sauce pan.
  • Dice your celery, and add it to your pot too.
  • Bring everything to a simmer, and then add your Buffalo sauce, and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes (until your celery has softened).
  • If serving in bread bowls, scoop them out as your beans and celery simmer.
  • When your celery is soft, puree all of your soup ingredients. We used an immersion blender, but you can also transfer to a blender or a food processor.
  • Pour your soup into your desired serving vessels, and top with blue cheese if using.
  • Devour, and enjoy!

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