Planet Veggie

This is not a quick soup. It is, however, a hearty, tasty and super-healthy soup. I could have done with this last week when I was filling in a food diary for something I’ll be reviewing over on my fitness blog. Instead, I used up my tins of Amy’s Kitchen soup, which made me look like I live on tinned soup and wine.

Chickpea, chard and porcini soup (serves 4)
Taken from River Cottage Veg Every Day!

30g dried porcini mushrooms
30g butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g passata or 400g tin chopped tomatoes
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 sprig of rosemary
300g chard or spinach, shredded
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Soak the porcini in about 750ml warm water for 30 minutes. Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, reserving the soaking water. Rinse the mushrooms briefly under the cold tap (they can be gritty) and pat dry with kitchen paper. Roughly chop them.
2. Strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a sieve lined with muslin or kitchen paper into a bowl.
3. Heat the butter and olive oil into a saucepan over a medium-low heat and sweat the onion, stirring from time to time, for about 15 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and stir for a minute, then add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for another couple of minutes.
4. Add the passata or the tomatoes with their juices, chickpeas, rosemary, reserved mushroom soaking liquid and a few grinds of black pepper. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for about 45 minutes. Add the shredded chard or spinach and cook for a further 8-10 minutes for chard, just 2-3 minutes for spinach.
5. If the soup seems too thick, thin it slightly with a little water. Discard the rosemary. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.