Recipe: Chickpea and Chorizo Soup

Another winter warmer with an added bit of spice

This is a lovely tasting soup blending together some great flavours that satisfy the taste buds as well as warming you right through. Takes around an hour from start to finish and is really worth the wait.

Ingredients:

250kg chorizo

1 onion

2 large potatoes

2 cloves garlic

1.5 litres of chicken stock

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

1 x 400g tin of chickpeas

fresh thyme

2 handfuls of spinach leaves

olive oil

salt and pepper

grated parmesan (optional)

Serves 4

How to Make:

Begin by dicing the chorizo, finely chopping your garlic, onions and thyme, and peeling and dicing the potatoes. Next, drain and rinse the chickpeas and leave to one side for now.

In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil before adding the chorizo. Cook this on a medium heat for around 5 minutes, stirring throughout, until the edges begin to brown. Add to the pan the onion and garlic, again cooking for around 5 minutes until they start to brown, stirring often.

Next, add the tomatoes, stock, chickpeas, potatoes and thyme, stir thoroughly and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper, reduce the heat and semi cover the saucepan. Leave to simmer for around 20 minutes, which should leave the potatoes nice and soft. Finally add the spinach leaves, keep simmering until these have wilted and then give the soup a good stir, you're now ready to serve.

Separate out into bowls and top with grated parmesan if you wish. Season again with salt and pepper to taste before serving with some nice crusty bread.