Chickpea, Tomato & Bread Soup

This Chickpea, Tomato & Bread Soup is rich, delicious and so full of flavour!  And it’s hearty enough to serve as a complete meal!

So remember on Thursday when I mentioned a delicious soup that you could serve my homemade basil pesto with?  This is it.  Oh this soup.  I honestly haven’t been this excited about a soup (or a meal for that matter) in a looooong time.  It’s delicious.  Deep, rich and so full of flavour…absolutely bursting with it.

When I saw the recipe I knew my husband & I would love it, but I wasn’t sure what the kids would think.  But I decided to make it anyway because I want them to gain appreciation for all types of food.  But to our surprise all 3 liked it.  Even our pickiest eater, our 4 year old son.  He didn’t love it, but he did eat it which says a lot.

So I will be making it again.  It’s a definite keeper.

Chickpea, Tomato & Bread Soup

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This Chickpea, Tomato & Bread Soup is rich, delicious and so full of flavour!  And it’s hearty enough to serve as a complete meal!

• Yield: 4 - 6 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 onion (sliced)
• 1 medium fennel bulb (sliced)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large carrot (cut half lengthwise, then chopped)
• 2 – 3 celery (chopped)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 2 leaves bay
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 L vegetable broth (about 4 1/2 cups)
• salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
• 2 slices large sourdough bread
• 1 (19 ounce) can chickpeas (drained)
• basil pesto sauce
• leaves handful basil (shredded)

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Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a saucepan, saute the onion and fennel in 2 tbsp olive oil, over medium heat for about 4 minutes.
3. Add the carrots and celery and cook for about 4 more minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato paste until it coats the vegetables, then add the wine and let cook until bubbly, so just a couple minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and their juices, spices, sugar, vegetable stock and salt & pepper.
6. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes.
7. While the soup is simmering, it’s time to toast the bread. Remove the crusts from the bread, then tear the bread into about 1 inch chunks and toss them with 2 tbsp olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the bread is dry and toasty. When the bread is done, remove from the oven and set aside.
8. In a bowl gently mash the chickpeas using a potato masher. You want the chickpeas to only be slightly mashed, with some whole.
9. After the soup has simmered for the 30 minutes, add the mashed chickpeas and bread and cook for about 5 more minutes.
10. Serve with basil pesto and shredded fresh basil.

Recipe from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

This soup is hearty enough on it’s own, that you don’t really need to serve anything alongside it.  It’s almost like a vegetable stew.  And don’t get freaked out by the bread being cooked with the soup…it’s like when you eat french onion soup…it soaks up all the good stuff and is delicious!

Have a delicious day!