Vadouvan Soissons Bean Crème with Cockles

About a week ago, as well as my fellow bloggers participating in the next  Culinary Blogging Show  November 21-22 2009,  I received a package from La coopérative agricole du haricot de Soissons. Soissons beans and a sample of  Marie Maryns specialty jam with beans and nuts. To thank them I created the following recipe.
First of all, let me intoduce you this fine product: a white and very large bean from the Soissons Region, in northeast of Paris. It has a meaty and delicate flavor. Very nutritious and versatile. Full of proteins, soluble fiber,  potassium and magnesium. Eating beans may lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity and may be a key to living older.

Rince and soak the beans for at least 24h ( I made the mistake of soaking them only overnight). It will rid your dish of some of the hard-to-digest carbohydrate.
Then put them in a pot with cold water. Don't add any salt at this stage or the  beans will remain hard.
After 20 min I changed the water, brought them to a boil and added some thyme, cooked them on low heat for about 2 hours. I drained them, put them in a food processor, added some Vadouvan stock ( 1 tsp of this mixture in 2 cups of warm water), 1 Tbsp of mascarpone, 1 tomato (peeled), 1 ts of arrowroot mixed with a little water. Arrowroot is a thickener that also thin facilitates digestion.

Meanwhile I prepared the cockles. I washed them until the water came clear.  In a skillet with a little olive oil  I cooked thin slices of red onions for a few minutes, added some white wine, the cockles, orange zests, covered and placed over high heat, shook them once or twice, and removed the cockles as soon as they began to open. Toss with soup. Keep a few cockles with shells for decoration.
As a result, I found this soup very refined, aromatic and rich without being heavy!