Midday
Bean and vegetable soup with wholegrain bread
One pot, four portions, and better every time it is reheated.
VeganServes 415 minutes to prepare, 30 to cook
What goes in
- Onion, diced1
- Carrots, diced2
- Celery sticks, diced2
- Garlic cloves, sliced2
- Tin of chopped tomatoes400 g
- Tin of borlotti beans, drained400 g
- Low-salt vegetable stock1 litre
- Olive oil2 tbsp
- Bay leaf1
- Wholegrain bread, to serve4 slices
What to do
- Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the oil over a low heat for ten minutes, with the lid on and a pinch of salt. They should soften without colouring.
- Add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
- Tip in the tomatoes, stock and bay leaf. Simmer for twenty minutes.
- Add the beans and give it another five minutes, crushing a few against the side of the pan to thicken it.
- Fish out the bay leaf. Serve with the bread.
Swaps
Substitutions that hold up. Some of them change who the dish suits, and those say so.
Borlotti beans → whatever tin is open — chickpeas, butter beans, green lentils
Stock → water and an extra bay leaf, if you are keeping an eye on salt