Winter Vegetable Navy Bean Soup or: Soup is My Nemesis

Soup is my nemesis. I'm not good at it. I'm good at a fair number of things in a kitchen, but soup is hard for me.  It's not that my soup is bad it's just that it could be better, (with the exception of one dreamy batch of potato leek) every damn time.

This soup was decent. The flavor was good, but the vegetables were just slightly overcooked. The recipe that appears below is with the (timing) changes I hope to make next time, flavoring/amounts etc. are all as they were.

Winter Vegetable Navy Bean Soup

What you need:
4-6 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
3 leeks, chopped fine
2 shallots, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, minced 
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1 cup chopped portobello mushrooms
1.5 tablespoons fresh rosemary 
2 tablespoons fresh basil
1 tablespoon fresh sage
2 -3 cups winter squash, cubed
2 potatoes cubed with skin
3 celery stalks, chopped fine
2 large carrots
1.5-3 cups of water
42-56oz of navy beans
2 cups swiss chard
salt and pepper to taste



What you do: 
1. I made my own stock (something I'll surely post about later), if you choose to make your own fresh stock get that going as you chop your vegetables
2. Saute your leeks, shallots, garlic and pepper flakes until translucent, add to stock.
3. Saute mushrooms  in a little water until soft and add to stock.
4. Add herbs to stock and bring to a boil.
5. Add squash, potatoes, carrots and celery boil until they begin to become tender (approximately 10 minutes?)
6. Add beans and bring to boil.
7. Turn down to simmer, add swiss chard.
8. Allow chard to soften.
9. Serve. (we ate this soup with homemade bread and a good Parmesan on top)


I watched Vicky Christina Bacelona and Julie and Julia and had a glass of wine while I made this soup, but I'm fairly sure that's not necessary.

Once I figure out how to master this bread I will post that recipe too.