A Hearty Soup for Anytime of the Year

Salad is usually on my own personal menu for lunches but with a recent cold snap I decided to make a hearty soup to warm up last week. Wanting to create a new soup recipe in the fashion of a Tuscan soup with beans and pasta I found myself flicking through the Wicked Healthy cookbook and stumbled upon their fagioli recipe.

Of course I changed a few things as they use a sauce that has tomato paste and I am not into using that mostly because I can’t find any organic ones and I would rather use sundried tomatoes. You know the sundried tomatoes that come dry from health food stores or bulk food places, not the marinated ones. I also sliced the onions instead of dicing them as that adds more depth to soups.

Gluten free penne pasta was my choice of pasta as it holds its shape well and I struggle with soft and overcooked pasta in anything. I attempted to cook cannellini beans and they still weren’t cooked after 2 hours so am suggesting you use black-eyed beans instead as they have a lovely flavour and usually only take half an hour to cook. To cook them follow my method for cooking beans. Loved that the dudes from Wicked Healthy roasted the cauliflower. Roasted Cauliflower in soup adds much more depth than cauliflower that cooks in the soup. Some lovely herbs were added and the below recipe is what I ended up with. It will be a definite regular for us when we feel like soup and I will most definitely be cooking it again this week if this cold weather continues.

Tuscan style Soup

Enough for 4 people as a main meal

6 ripe tomatoes

6 sundried tomatoes

1 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried

1 tbsp fresh marjoram or 1 tsp dried

½ large cauliflower

2 onions sliced

4 cloves garlic minced

1 bay leaf

500ml home made stock

250g cooked black-eyed beans

3 medium carrots diced

¾ bunch curly kale shredded finely

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley finely chopped to garnish

2 tbsp olive oil

½ cup dried gluten free pasta

Cut the tomatoes in half and add to a saucepan with 1 tsp salt, some pepper and the oregano and marjoram. Pop the lid on and let the tomatoes boil down. Once the tomatoes have boiled down take the lid off to reduce some of the liquid. At this point add the sundried tomatoes and simmer away until it becomes quite thick. Then blend either in a blender or with a hand held stick.

Meanwhile cut the cauliflower into soup size florets and place on a baking tray with 1 tbsp olive and some salt. Coat the florets in the oil, salt and water. Cook for 20 minutes in a 180°C oven and leave them longer if they are not cooked through.

In a largish saucepan place 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic, add the bay leaf, a few pinches of salt and some pepper. After a few minutes add the carrot and kale (I add the kale now as I like it well cooked – if you like it not so cooked add it later). Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes then add the stock and blended tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 10 minutes or until the carrots are cooked. I like them with a slight crunch. Add the cooked beans and half of the roasted cauliflower and cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes to heat up.

Cook the pasta separately to the packet instructions ensuring the pasta is al dente. When cooked add the pasta to the soup. Serve the soup into individual bowls, divide the rest of the roasted cauliflower into each bowl and sprinkle on the parsley garnish.

Help spread the word on how to get enough iron in your diet

After facilitating the last vegan foundation cooking class I was reminded of how much I actually know on the subject of staying healthy in general and staying healthy as a vegan. I talked a little bit about what inhibits the absorption of iron and how easy it really is to get enough iron in your diet as a vegan. All this information is in my free iron rich eBook that you all would have received when you signed up to my newsletter.

I would so love more people to access this free eBook so if you know of anyone who would benefit from it could you please let them know about it.

Have a lovely week everyone and remember if you have any recipe requests I am always on the look out for ideas.

With love Veet

Categories:Soups

Tags:Gluten Free Pasta beans Soup cauliflower tomatoes