White Bean and Pesto Soup

Over the winter I was at Alice's Tea Cup in New York City. Excellent little place. Highly recommend the walnut and stilton scone. I got a bowl of this white bean and pesto soup that was very creamy and warming on a cold day. It was a basic, rustic tuscan white bean, blended and served with a dollop of pesto on top. It was great, don't get me wrong, but I wanted more pesto so I came up with this:
56oz White Beans (1 40oz can, 1 16oz)
3c water
2 bay leaves
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1c basil leaves
1/3c pine nuts
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4c grated parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
pepper to taste

Roughly chop the onion and brown in olive oil. While this is going, spread pine nuts on your toaster tray and put them in at 350. Give them a few shakes throughout so they get golden brown on all sides. When the onion is almost brown add 4 of the 5 cloves. Cook all together for a few minutes and remove from heat. Drain excess oil into a cup--you'll need this. Add beans, water, bayleaves and get it to a simmer.
Now for the pesto. This pesto recipe is very heavy on the pine nuts because they create like a "pine nut butter" that thickens the soup very nicely. Put the roasted nuts in the food processor and blend till they can't be blended anymore. Gradually add the olive oil in that you saved from the onions and garlic. Add the basil and cheese and pulse until everything is together. This whole mixture goes into your pot of beans along with the black pepper, red pepper, and last clove of garlic. Simmer for 30 mins stirring occasionally. Remove bayleaves. Blend the soup using a stick blender until homogeneous and creamy.

The resulting soup was delicious with a slightly nutty taste to it from the pine nuts. They add a good amount of body. I can't wait to make this over the summer with fresh basil from my garden. I have to say the packaged stuff at Giant was a little disappointing. Serve this hearty soup up with some garlicky, toasted peasant bread and you have a meal that will stick for a while.