Onion, Chickpea & Bacon Soup
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
- 250 g smoked lardons
- 3 large onions
- 24 small onions or shallots peeled and broken into lobes
- 1 red pepper deseeded and chopped
- 4 garlic cloves chopped and crushed with a little salt
- 4 large tomatoes skinned cored deseeded, and roughly chopped
- 2 tsp tomato puree
- 2-3 Thyme sprigs
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- 1 x 400g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 50 g dried risoni rice-shaped pasta
- ½ savoy cabbage cored and thinly sliced
Instructions
- Heat 1tbsp oil in a large pan and fry the lardons until golden. Transfer to a plate and add the rest of the oil to the pan.
- Fry the chopped onions and small onions or shallots, red pepper and garlic over a medium heat for 10 minutes until lightly golden. Add the tomatoes and tomato puree, increase the heat and cook for 2 minutes, then add the thyme, stock and 750ml cold water and season with freshly ground black pepper.
- Add the chickpeas and lardons and cook for 15 minutes. Add the risoni, season with sea salt to taste and cook for just a few minutes until wilted. Spoon over some extra virgin oil to serve.