My recent trip home was great – especially when I was fed by friends including the lovely “E”. She quickly put together the most delicious home made soup which was served with home made croutons.
She’s allowed me to put the recipe here for all to enjoy (not that she had much choice as I posed the question “You don’t mind if I post this up do you?). Now like a lot of recipes, quantities are per taste as long as you have the core ingredients in sufficient quantity everything else you add as much or little as you want. The core ingredients here are onions, tomatoes, butter, stock and some form of white bean: butter beans, cannellini beans or chickpeas. Don’t leave out the butter, it’s VITAL to the silky taste here and with this soup you are covering 3 of your five a day (tomatoes, onions and beans) so fab all round.
When I made it, I added in a handful of fresh basil leaves because the plant on my window sill is getting too big for it’s boots. But hey, that’s me. It’s a versatile recipe, add what you wish but do have a go as it’s yum.
Ingredients:
- 1 or 2 tbs olive oil
- 10g butter (I used this much, not sure how much E uses but I suspect the quantity may change from batch to batch)
- 1 large onion diced finely
- 1 leek (optional but I like the taste so core to me) wash out the grit, slice up green and white bits
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cans good quality chopped tomatoes
- 2 cans butter beans (or alternative, use what’s in your cupboard) discard the water in the can and give them a quick rinse
- 1 pint vegetable stock
- Dash of soy (optional). Don’t go overboard just a quick flick of the wrist dash is all you want here
Cooking:
- In a heavy based pan or pot, heat oil and butter over a medium heat
- When butter has melted add the onions, garlic and leeks. Sweat the onions only i.e. cook until they start getting translucent
- Add tomatoes, beans and soy sauce.
- Bring to the boil then simmer for a little while
- Blend up the soup and serve with lovely home made bread croutons (or if you are me, shop bought bread!)
This makes enough for about 4 bowls of soup. As my little one doesn’t eat much I’ve got a delicious batch in the freezer to have in the next week or so.
