- Ali
What do you do with all those unused root vegetables at the end of the week?
My favourite option is to turn them into nutritious soup. This is one of my favourites. You can add pretty much anything you have to hand but I have a tied and tested recipe which seems to work well with a few tweaks here and there is we have a glut of spinach or chard etc
Give it a go and let me know your favourite combinations.
Ingredients
100g dried haricot beans – soaked in cold water overnight then drained.
2 heads garlic. Cut horizontally so you can see the bulbs
Coconut oil for frying
1 onion - finely chopped
3 celery stalks - finely chopped
3 leeks - finely chopped
3 garlic gloves – finely chopped
400g chopped canned tomatoes
2 sweet potatos - diced
3 large carrots - diced
1 – 2 parsnips - diced
½ small swede - diced
3 turnips – when in season - diced
3 courgettes - diced
1 chard when in season - diced
100g runner or French beans - diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For a decorative drizzle
1 small handful of basil
1 garlic clove – crushed with a little sea salt to form a paste
80g Vegan parmesan cheese
150ml olive oil
Directions
Put the drained beans in a pan, cover with cold water and add the halved garlic bulbs. Bring to the boil and simmer for 60 – 90 minutes until tender removing any scum that forms throughout the cooking.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool with the garlic still in the pan.
When cool squeeze the garlic from the skins and discard the skins. Return the cooked garlic to the pan. It will be a mushy goo but, believe me, that’s what you want.
Heat 2 tablespoons coconut oil in a large saucepan and fry the onions, celery and leeks to soften. Don’t allow them to brown. This takes about 15 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Stir in the tomatoes and turn up the heat to bring to boil.
Add all the other vegetables except the runner beans, courgettes and chard, if using.
Cook over a high heat to bring to boiling then reduce to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the runner beans, courgettes and chard and top up with enough water to cover everything. Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the cooked haricot beans and garlic and some of their juices to give a soupy consistency.
Season to taste.
Blitz half the mixture to create a thick soup and stir back into the original so you have a good texture but with some lumps and whole beans in it.
To make the drizzle
Blitz all the ingredients together in a blender and stir into the soup as you serve each bowl. This will keep in the fridge stored in a kilner jar for 10 days or so. It is also great spread thinly on dry toast!
