Thursday 8 January 2009

winter vegetable broth with haricot beans and chorizo



With all the excitement of my blog being launched today, i didn't even think about what i might cook this evening! After getting in at 8.30pm, i would have usually made to with some bread and cheese and a nice glass of wine, but it was cold and i needed comfort food (although being January, it had to be healthy).

After flicking through a couple of favourite cookery books and surveying the sorry contents of my fridge (i really should have started this on the weekend after a trip to the supermarket..) i settled on this comforting soup from Rachel Allen's Rachel's Favourite Food at Home.

The recipe is as follows and is enough for 4-6

2 tbp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
2 small leeks, trimmed and chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
150g chorizo, sliced and chopped*
900ml chicken stock*
1 x 410g tin haricot beans, drained
2 tbsp chopped coriander or flat leaf parsley*
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion, carrot, leek, potato, garlic and chorizo.

Cover and sweat for 10 mins over a low heat, stirring every now and then.

Add the chicken stock and drained beans, bring to the boil and simmer for at least 5 mins.

Add the herbs, season to taste and serve.

Comfort in a bowl!

*Vegetarians can omit the chorizo and use vegetable stock instead of chicken. A pinch of smoked paprika would add some warmth.
*For a more italian vibe, use pancetta instead of chorizo, basil instead of coriander/parsley and finish with grated parmesan.

5 comments:

Biba said...

It looks so professional! Sounds delicious too, i love the napkin :)

Anonymous said...

Hello lovely, good luck on the new blog, I am so impressed, it all looks lovely! HE xxx

Anonymous said...

ohhhh....YUm, I am going to cook this at the weekend, perfect comfort food, I will link to you from my website.
susan14 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Obsessilicious said...

Mmmmm....It sounds and looks very delicious, it's no carbs for me at the moment though...boo hoo!

Mr G.x

molly said...

Yum Yum great blog LisaJ - I love this book too! Looking forward to more recipes to try out - we have just converted back from vegetarianism so ready to try anything! Vicky_cb x