Recipe: leek, spinach and chickpea soup

This is a delicious soup that is marvellously useful owing to the simplicity of its ingredients, says Rosie Sykes. The chickpeas are tinned and you don’t even really need the leeks: you could just use more onion instead. It’s vegan, but it doesn’t have to be: chopped cured meat or salted fish can be added to the garlic bread purée, and a grating of parmesan or pecorino on top would also be great.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp olive oil, and a splash more 
• 1 onion, halved and finely sliced
• 2 small leeks, trimmed as little as possible and sliced using all the green, then washed well 
• 5 garlic cloves, 4 crushed or finely grated, 1 cut into quarters lengthways 
• 400g frozen spinach, defrosted in a sieve 
• 400g tin chickpeas, drained, with liquid reserved 
• 800ml vegetable stock (homemade or from a stock cube or bouillon powder) 
• 2 slices bread, cut 2cm thick and cut in half 
• Good sprig of thyme (lemon thyme goes especially well) or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 heaped tsp sweet smoked paprika 
• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar 
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

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• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium heavy-based saucepan (with lid) over a medium heat and, when hot, add the onion. Add a good dose of salt and, when sizzling, turn the heat down, put a lid on and cook for 10 mins so that the onion is starting to get soft and sweet, stirring halfway through.
• When the onion has softened, add the leeks and cook over a medium heat for a further 10 mins, lid on, until the leeks start to lose their crunch. Now add a splash more olive oil and the crushed garlic to the pan and cook gently for a couple of minutes. Once the garlic has got familiar with the onion and leek, add the spinach, chickpeas and stock. Bring up to a simmer and cook for 5 mins with the lid on. 
• In the meantime, in a separate frying pan large enough to hold the bread in a single layer, heat the remaining oil. Add the bread and thyme sprig and fry over a medium heat until the bread is starting to become light golden, turning occasionally. Add the quartered garlic and let it colour a little. When the bread is ready, add the smoked paprika and stir about a bit, then add the vinegar. Put the contents of the pan into a food processor, or goblet for a stick blender, and start to whizz up, then add the liquid from the canned chickpeas and blend to a smooth paste.
• Stir the bread purée into the soup, stir well and cook for a further 5 mins for everything to get to know each other. Season to taste and add more stock if you prefer a thinner soup. Serve in hot bowls with a slick of olive oil on top and hunks of bread.

Taken from Every Last Bite: Save Money, Time and Waste with 70 Recipes that Make the Most of Mealtimes by Rosie Sykes, published by Quadrille at £18.99. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £14.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

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