Italian Fridge Forage Soup
It’s hard to avoid all chat about food waste at the moment and so I thought I would try and show how some boring ends of vegetables can become something special with the right formula. This soup has an Italian style and is plant-based with so much flavour! As long as you have the cumin, fennel seeds and white wine you should get the right flavour coming through. I also really loved the wilted coriander at the end! As you can see I had a whole bunch of bits that needed using up and this was totally worth the 30 minute effort. Squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli and asparagus would also be great. You could use chickpeas or butterbeans instead of cannellini. I hope you give it a try when you are next sorting out the fridge draw. Such a great one-pan recipe!
Serves 3-4
GF/DF/Vegan
Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 large red onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, grated
1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
Handful red cabbage, chopped
Handful white cabbage, chopped
150g new potatoes, peeled and chopped into bitesized chunks
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 glass white wine
1 tsp dried oregano
Large handful cauliflower, roughly chopped and I used the stalks
3 frozen balls of spinach, you could just use 3 handful of fresh and add it at the end to wilt for 1 min
250g cannellini beans (from a tin)
1-2 handfuls of chopped kale
Handful frozen peas
1-2 pinches of dried chilli flakes
Smash bunch of coriander
Extra virgin olive oil for garnishing
Coconut yoghurt for serving, optional
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning
Set a large saucepan to a medium to high heat and add the olive oil. Next add the cumin and fennel seeds to fry for 1 minute. Then add the chopped red onion and carrot and fry for 2 minutes until they have softened a little. Then add in the grated garlic, both cabbages and stir for a minute. Then add the chopped potatoes, dried oregano and crumble in a stock cube. Pour over the white wine and stir for one minute. Pour over some newly boiled water until it just covers everything. Boil for 8 minutes. Then add the cauliflower, cannellini beans and frozen spinach (if using) and boil for another 5 minutes or until the cauliflower has softened. You can add a splash more water if it needs it. Next season everything with salt and pepper. Add in the chopped kale, frozen peas, pinch of chilli flakes and cook for one more minute. Remove from the heat and add in the chopped coriander and a last drizzle of olive oil. Check the seasoning! You could add a squeeze of lemon juice if you liked but I didn’t have any to hand. Serve with a dollop of coconut yogurt in the middle. Bene!