Rainbow chard & bean soup
By Carina Contini
Dried beans and pulses give texture to our food and added nutrition in the winter months. I love to use them in stews and chunky soups. Combining dried cannellini beans with chard makes a really hearty winter soup that will warm the whole family. The fennel adds another layer of flavour and the chicory toast makes it into a complete meal.
Victor loves chunky soup while the children prefer it creamier, so I use a food processor or hand-held blender to blend about a quarter of the soup to a smooth consistency once the chard leaves have wilted and after removing the sausage. I then return the blended soup to the rest of the soup in the pan — and everyone is happy.
Ingredients (serves 4)
| Quantity | Item |
|---|---|
| 500g | Dried cannellini beans |
| 1tsp | Bicarbonate of soda |
| 2 | Large onions, finely chopped |
| 1 | Large fennel bulp, finely chopped |
| 500g | Rainbow chard |
| 2tbsp | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 1 litre | Vegetable stock or ham stock |
| Enough to season | Salt & freshly-ground black pepper |
| 200g | Calabrese sausage or chorizo sausage |
To finish
| Quantity | Item |
|---|---|
| 2 | Garlic cloves |
| Enough to season | Salt |
| Large handful | Flat-leaf parsley leaves |
| Generous spoonful | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 2tsp | Fennel seeds |
| 2tsp | Rosemary, leaves only, very finely chopped |
Method
Soak the beans overnight in a large pot with plenty of cold water, to which you have added the bicarbonate of soda. This helps release the nasty gases that give beans their anti-social side effects. The next day, rinse the beans and return them to the pot with plenty of fresh cold water. Bring to the boil, then drain and rinse under the tap.
Finely chop any coarse chard stalks. In a large soup pan, fry the onion, fennel and the chopped chard stalks in a generous amount of olive oil until soft and golden. The longer and slower this process takes, the better the flavours will be in the finished soup.
Add the stock and the rinsed beans and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If you are using ham stock, you may not need to add any salt at this stage. Remove the skin from the sausage and add to the pan in one piece. Simmer for 40–60 minutes until the beans are soft. The time this will take depends on how dry the beans were when you started and how long you soaked them for.
Coarsely chop the chard leaves and finely chop any tender stalks. Add these to the soup and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until the leaves have wilted. Adjust the seasoning. Remove the sausage from the pot. If you want to make the soup a bit creamier, this is the moment to blend a quarter of it, then return the blended soup to the pan. You can either serve the sausage separately or slice it and return it to the soup.
To finish, use a pestle and mortar to cream the garlic with a pinch of salt. Add the parsley leaves and a generous spoonful of the olive oil, and cream together. Finally add the fennel seeds and rosemary and gently work to a runny paste, adding more oil if required. Add a couple of spoonful’s of this finishing touch to the soup.
