Pasta with Beans Recipe
Serves
6
Ingredients
- Extra virgin olive oil, for frying
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 carrots, washed and diced with skin on
- 2 celery sticks, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 400g can plum tomatoes
- 950ml vegetable broth
- 700ml filtered water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1tsp dried oregano
- ½tsp chilli flakes
- 2 x 400g cans cannellini beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 120g any kind of pasta, ideally smaller pasta is better (I use brown rice macaroni)
- 130g kale, chard or collard greens, destemmed and chopped or torn into bite-sized pieces
- 7g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
Toppings
- fresh lemon juice
- freshly chopped parsley
- salt and pepper 1tbsp fresh lemon juice (about . medium lemon)
Method
Place a large pan over a medium heat and add some extra virgin olive oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 6–10 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened and the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, pushing them against the side of the pan to break them apart. Cook the tomatoes until bubbling.
Add the vegetable broth, filtered water, bay leaves, oregano and chilli flakes and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Use a heat-safe measuring cup to transfer about 350ml of the soup (avoiding the bay leaves) to a blender. Add about 125g of the drained beans and blend until smooth. Pour the blended mixture back into the soup.
Add the remaining beans, pasta, kale and parsley to the simmering soup. Continue cooking, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan, for 15–20 minutes, or until the pasta and greens are pleasantly tender.
Remove the pan from the heat, then remove and discard the bay leaves. Stir in the lemon juice and season.
Add any toppings of your choice to serve. This soup is also great the next day or frozen, so if you have extra, try saving it for another day.
Recipe extracted from The Imperfect Nutritionist: 7 Principles of Healthy Eating by Jennifer Medhurst. Published by Kyle Books. Photography: Nick Hopper
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