spring bean soup

Today’s weather feels more soup than salad. Here is a recipe for Spring Bean Soup in case you fancy knocking up something similar for lunch today.

Ingredients

• 4 spring onions, chopped

• 1 clove of garlic, chopped

• A slice of lemon peel from an unwaxed lemon

• 2 regular-sized tomatoes, chopped into quarters

• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes

• A generous amount of green leafy veg, chopped (I used about 8 cavolo nero leaves)

• 200ml vegetable stock (I used 200ml boiled water into which I dissolved a Kallo vegetable stock cube)

• 1 tablespoon vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

• 1 tin butter beans, drained and rinsed.

• Plenty of black pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan then add the spring onion and garlic, cooking until soft.

2. Add the lemon peel, fresh tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. Next, add the tinned tomatoes. Stir everything well and increase the heat slightly to bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer.

4. Add the green leaves, vegetable stock and vinegar, stirring everything together. Cook for a couple of minutes until the leaves begin to soften and wilt.

5. Finally, add the butter beans and heat everything together for a few minutes before serving with plenty of cracked black pepper.