This Week’s Meat Free Recipe: Chickpea & chard soup

 Chickpea & chard soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 200g dried chickpeas
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 dried red chillies
• 5 garlic cloves (peeled and smashed with the back of a knife)
• 3 rosemary sprigs
• 2 x 340g tinned peeled plum tomatoes
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 litre good stock (or water if you prefer)
• 300g Swiss chard
• 2 slices of day-old chewy, peasant-style bread, crusts removed
• 90g vegetarian friendly Parmesan, freshly grated

Method

1. Drain the chickpeas, rinse and place in a large heavy-based pan. Cover generously with cold water, but do not season. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn the heat down. Simmer gently for 1 and 1/2 hours or until the chickpeas are soft. Drain and dress with 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and the lemon juice.
2. In the meantime, warm 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a separate pan over a medium heat. Crumble in the chillies and add the garlic and rosemary. Cook for a minute to release the flavours, then add the tomatoes and stir well to break them up, adding a pinch of salt. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, then pour in the stock and cook for a further 10 minutes. Finally add the cooked chickpeas and simmer gently for 40 minutes.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, prepare the chard. Wash and pat dry, then strip the leaves from the pale central stalk, using a small sharp knife – set aside. Trim the stalks and cut into 1cm chunks. Add these to a pan of well-salted boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then add the soft green outer leaves and cook for a further minute. Now drain.
4. Break the bread into small pieces and stir into the soup along with the Parmesan, turning the heat to low. Add the chard and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add a little more Parmesan and/or olive oil if needed.
5. Serve