madebyjade

Only beans? This must be too boring! Aha! You would be surprised…that is the secret. This simple dish inspired by the film, the Malaga Beanfield War, and it shouts (or sprouts): power food. You could go to battle with this soup…I love it. If you use different kinds of beans it just adds that extra: mmmm-factor… Serve it with tortillas, made the way my sister, Olivia, demonstrates in the pics.

How to gear yourself for feeding 4 people:

One onion

½ chilli (or more if you like it hot)

2 garlic cloves

4 more-or-less 8 cm sticks celery

One bay leaf

4 mixed cans of any beans of you feel like, for example chickpeas, cannellini beans, butter beans, red kidney beans, lentils…

2T extra-virgin olive oil

500ml home made veggie stock

At the end, to garnish:

One fresh red tomato

One small handful coriander leaves

A few gratings Parmeggiano cheese

More ideas to garnish:

Sour cream or crème fraiche

Lime juice

Avo slices

(Stick to 2/3 garnishes, it’s your choice which)

4 Tortillas, to serve

How to start training:

Chop the onion into chunks of roughly 1cm and the celery sticks in chunks about ½ cm thick. With a generous hand, add the olive oil to a medium-sized deep pan or casserole dish and put it on a medium heat. When the oil it ready and heated, about 30 seconds, add your onions and let go of the celery in as well. Turn down the heat to a low flame. Using a wooden spoon, stir the onions and celery a bit in the oil and let it cook gently for 7 minutes, also stirring occasionally. The aim is not to let it burn much, rather go for soft and melting onions and celery. Meanwhile, peel the garlic cloves by cutting off a very small piece at the end and the crushing it lightly with the side of your knife, so that the skin comes loose. Grate the garlic finely, and then chop the chilli! If you like things hot – use the seeds as well, if you like it mellows – scrape out the seeds. Dice it quite fine, because munching on a chunk of chilli is not so romantic. Add the garlic and chilli to your pan and let it cook for another 2 minutes, while you drain the beans of all its juices. This done, add your beans and stock and let in cook for 20 minutes in a medium heat. Don’t forget about it – it still needs love whilst bubbling away, so stir every now-and-then. You can dice the tomato, slice the avo, or chop the coriander and grate the parmeggiano so long, depending on what you chose. Get a pan ready for the tortillas. When the soup is done, turn it off and start by slicing the tortillas in triangles (as shown), heat up a non stick pan and go for it! Garnish and serve. Good stuff.

=