Store cupboard tomato & bean soup
AT ITS most basic, this super-easy soup requires only an onion and a couple of store cupboard staples — tinned tomatoes and beans — and it’s well worth making if that’s all you put into it (perhaps with a dash of chilli). But you have the option of building in some fresh veg, too, depending on what you have to hand. Either way, it’s a lovely, thick soup. If you want to loosen it and make it more soupy, add some hot veg stock with the tomatoes — you won’t need more than a mugful (250-300 ml).
SERVES 4
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
Optional extra veg: 1 carrot chopped; 1 celery stem thinly sliced; 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and thinly sliced; 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
2 x 400 g tins whole tomatoes
250 -300 ml hot veg stock
Optional 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped, or 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika, or a good dash of chilli sauce 2 x 400 g tins white, black or kidney beans, or chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Sea salt and black pepper
TO FINISH (OPTIONAL)
Extra virgin olive oil
PLACE a large saucepan or a small stockpot over a medium heat. Add the oil and, when hot, add the onion with a pinch each of salt and pepper. This is also the time to add any or all of the optional extra veg — carrot, celery, pepper and/or fennel. Turn the heat down a little and sweat the veg for about 5 minutes to soften a little. Add the tomatoes with their juice, crushing them with a spoon as you drop them in and picking out the little white stalky ends if they bother you. Add the stock, if you like, and the chilli, paprika or chilli sauce, if using. Stir well and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about 15 minutes to reduce, stirring a few times and mashing the tomato down a little with a fork or spoon as it cooks. Before adding the beans, you can partblitz the soup with a hand blender if you like – either roughly, or until smooth. Or just leave it chunky and unblitzed (my preference). With the back of a spoon break up the beans slightly, before stirring them into the soup. Simmer gently for another 5 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper and ladle into warm bowls. Finish with a trickle of olive oil and a grinding of pepper.