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Cappuccino of White Beans with Grated Truffle

This soup is one of Gordons signature dishes. A thick white bean purée is transformed into a light and frothy “cappuccino”, then garnished with exquisite truffle shavings. It pays to go through the time and effort of using dried beans, as you will not get the same flavour and texture with tinned. From Gordon Ramsay. Serves 4-6

250g dried white haricot
beans, soaked overnight in cold water
1 small onion, peeled
1 medium carrot, peeled
1 bouquet garni (sprigs of thyme, flat-leaf parsley and rosemary tied together)
800ml vegetable stock
150ml double cream
Sea salt and freshly ground
black pepper
1½-2 tsp truffle-infused 
olive oil
Few knobs of ice-cold butter
Few thin slices of fresh truffle (optional)

1 Drain the soaked beans and transfer them to a large pan. Cover by about 5cm with lightly salted cold water. Push in the onion, carrot and bouquet garni and increase the heat to high. Boil vigorously for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 1-1½ hours or until the beans are just soft and tender.

2 Using a slotted spoon, remove about 4-5 tablespoons of the beans and reserve for the garnish. Continue simmering the remaining beans for a further 10-15 minutes until they are very soft. Drain the beans, discarding the onion, carrot and bouquet garni, but reserving a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. 

3 Put the beans into a blender and whiz to a fine purée, adding a little splash of the cooking liquid to get the beans moving, if necessary. You may have to stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the blender a few times to get a really smooth result. Pass the purée through a fine sieve, pressing the pulp with the back of ladle. Meanwhile, boil the vegetable stock for about 5 minutes until slightly reduced.

4 Mix the reduced stock with the bean purée in a large pan. Let it simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk in the cream and season well. (For a velvety smooth texture, pass the soup through a fine sieve once more). Add the truffle oil, according to taste, then reheat the soup. Just before serving, whisk in a few knobs of ice-cold butter, using an electric hand blender to froth up the soup.

5 Divide the reserved beans between warmed cappuccino cups or wide tea cups. Spoon the frothy soup over the beans and serve immediately, garnished with truffle slices, if you wish.