Chick Pea, Lemon Confit & Nettle Soup/Stew

There is more to chick peas than hummus!

I love chick peas in any shape or form and I use them regularly as the basis for beetroot falafel burgers, falafel, hummus of course (also with some of those preserved lemons in), a wonderful Spanish Tuna and Chick Pea stew I first ate in the Basque country, tagines and a “straight from the tin” chick pea, tuna and red onion salad. I often use red lentils in soups but hadn’t used chick peas for a while so i dreamt up this soup.

This is one of those recipes where you can play a bit with the quantities and ingredients and use what is lurking at the back of your fridge up (because we all have days when we discover some wilted rucola or a sad dried up half lemon that was forgotten or baby spinach that isnt rotten but has kind of past its salad days) and make use of the tin of chick peas in your cupboard and those preserved lemons you made! Chick peas are protein and fibre rich and this dish can either be a veggie stew or thinned to be a soup.

Gadgets & Gizmos

None really just a good large saucepan. A stick blender helps but you can always mash the chick peas with a fork. Not having the “perfect” gizmos doesnt mean not cooking!

Ingredients – 4-6 servings depending on how hungry you are

300g of chick peas drained. One tin yields roughly 250g which is fine. Dried chick peas roughly double in weight when cooked but to be sure cook 200g dried. Place them overnight in water with a little bicarbonate of soda so that when you need to cook them they do not take long – 20-30mins. If you forget then cook them from dry very very slowly and gently making sure they do not dry out – 1.5-2 hrs.
200-300g of spinach leaves or chard or rucola or watercress or parsley or even nettles as I used here ie a does of chlorophyll
600ml stock (chicken or vegetable depending on your persuasion) if a thick hearty soup/stew or 1 litre for a soup. Chick peas are thirtsy creatures so dont be afraid to add more liquid if it seems a bit too thick.
1 lemon confit, skin chopped into very fine cubes and the pulp pulled out and pips removed. keep the pulp. If you don’t have preserved lemons use the juice and zest of 1 lemon.
1 large onion finely chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
300g carrots (helps the colour but pumpkin would also work) chopped roughly
a little olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

How To

Method 1 -Greenery blended in

Place the onions and carrots in the pan with a little oil and gently fry until translucent. Add the garlic (it burns easier than onions due to its higher sugar content) and just fry a little.

Add 3/4 of the chickpeas,the spinach, the lemon pulp and your liquid.

Bring to the boil

Leave to simmer for just five minutes (the chick peas are already cooked)

By putting the spinach in with the chickpeas I am going to blend it all together.

Now blend. and now add the little cubes of lemon rind for texture and flavour. Serve with the reserved chickpeas in the soup as well. I garnish with coriander and a harissa oil but parsley works as does your favourite chilli oil. Its also great with a liberal sprinkling of dukkah on top and a good olive oil drizzled over.

Method 2: The green stuff separate.

Omit adding the spinach.

Blend.

Add the spinach with the cubed lemon rind. Switch off the heat. The spinach will cook in the retained heat of the soup. If using nettles which are slightly more needy in terms of cooking time, keep the heat going 2-3 minutes and then switch off and leave.

Serve with good bread for a nourishing and healthy light meal.

Stinging Nettle (“urzici”) & Spinach Soup

This is one of those soups that you do really need after a long, cold, dark winter. Nettles contain so many vitamins and have so many health benefits that you might consider this a blood purifying elixir (and far more civilised than leeches). Apart from the obvious “pain” of picking them and then choosing nice young leaves there isn’t really much to it. The “sting” is deactivated by heat so dont expect a “fugu” like experience! However if pain is what you seek then a dose of “urtication” (flogging with nettles that was believed to relieve palsy and numbness of limbs) might be in order. Enough medieval medicine…this soup is definitely twenty first century and this version is gluten and dairy free.

We are very lucky that in Romania people still gather new season nettles and sell them in plastic bags at the market. Traditionally a puree is made much like (to me at least) the French “epinards aux oeufs” which is absolutely delicious. Now the problem with such virtuous food is that if you don’t do quite enough to it you are in danger of creating something that tastes like juiced roadside weeds. So I add quite a lot of onions and garlic, a generous amount of nutmeg and I thicken with potato or rice.

Ingredients

These are a guide and make quite a lot of soup. If you don’t have so many nettles use more spinach or throw in some courgettes or cabbage.

500g young nettles the stalks and anything that looks remotely “woody” removed

500g spinach – preferably proper spinach not baby spinach. cleaned and well rinsed of sand/earth if using the real thing

1-2 onions – I like a lot of onions

2-6 cloves of garlic. I go for the full 6.

nutmeg – approx 1 heaped teaspoon

a few sprigs of fresh thyme if you have

1 litre of vegetable stock (a good bio brand works well but so does some water, a bit of marmite and a little leftover wine)

1 large boiled potato or a cup of boiled white rice. If not GF sensitive some slices of old white bread gone stale.

I would suggest bay leaves as well but they will get lost in the green and blended bay leaves render the soup so bitter that its inedible. dont risk it! or write an anally retentive stickit on the kitchen wall to REMOVE BAY LEAVES before blending. personal experience and the bitter taste of (in this case literally).

Gadgets & Gizmos

A large saucepan and a hand held blender/ whatever blender you have

How To

Chop the onions up roughly (its going to be blended so no masterchef perfection required here). Fry them in a little oil gently until translucent. Now add the also roughly chopped garlic. do not let it brown.

Add the nettles and the liquid. Boil 2-3 minutes until the nettles are just cooked. Now throw on top the spinach leaves and let them wilt for a further 3-4 minutes. Stir through until the leaves are all floppy and “just cooked” in fact almost still raw.

Add your chosen starch – you dont have to – I just like my soups a bit more substantial.

Blend it!

Now season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Improvs & Ideas

I’ve served it with a chilli/red pepper oil in the photo but a simple drizzle of good olive oil is all thats needed really and a hunk of good bread.

Freezes well but what you want here is freshness and the joy of tasting new season’s produce

Farfalle with Parsley, Lemon & Walnut Pesto

The Parsley Pesto

This is a fabulous pesto to make in winter when parsley is abundant rather than pretending its summer and we are all “Mediterraneo” in January. It also packs a massive iron, B vits (folates and all that) and antioxidant punch too so very good for veggies too. Here I have made a pasta dish but this green and potent elixir is delish spread on crostini (OK lets admit it “toast” and a dab oh yes just a dab of mayonnaise too) and I have also massaged it into chicken breasts to great effect (but dont quote me on that).

I first tasted this when a friend made a version in Aegean Turkey and although skeptical I was blown away by the honest robust flavours and how it made the pasta sing. It has its origins in all those wonderful sauces from Turkey and the Caucasus that use walnuts such as the Turkish “tarator” and Georgian “Satsivi” as well as the Italian “Pesto di Noce”. I include preserved lemon too as i like the lemony flavour without the bitterness. If you do not have preserved lemons then juice one lemon and also zest it. Romanian walnuts are legendary and I particularly enjoy making this with the new season nuts. The best are always bought at the market and roasting not only develops the flavour but eradicates unwanted visitors hiding in the crevices!

This is one of those recipes that is not so much a recipe as a suggestion of ingredients that when combined create something magical.

Ingredients

Zest and juice of 1 lemon or half a preserved lemon skin only
Quite a lot of garlic – 5- 6 cloves
150g walnuts
2 large bunches of flat leaf parsley
Good olive oil
Salt & pepper

How To

Pesto

Blitz all the pesto ingredients together and pour into a jar. To vary the consistency add more or less oil until it is dropping consistency ie will drop off a spoon rather than stick to it when turned upside down.

Farfalle with Pesto & Green Beans/ Courgettes/ Broccoli

Cook your pasta according to the instructions (I like the bows for this recipe but I cant really explain why). I particularly love this recipe with green beans – they have an affinity with the parsley and garlic and they remind me of a dish I ate many years ago in the South of France that was garlic with green beans dressesd with olive oil…well of course it was haricots verts with garlic but you get my drift. Chop and cook the veggies until done but not mushy (Brocoli and courgettes also work just great).

Drain the pasta

Stir the pesto through the pasta (I like quite a lot of pesto but start with one tablespoon per person and adjust if it looks less than you like)

Stir through the veggies gently until also lightly coated

Serve in plates sprinkled with fresh parmesan

Shelf Life

As long as you cover with a little oil to seal the pesto and prevent oxidation this will sit happily in the fridge for approx 1 month. However it is at its best, most flavourful and the vitamins at their most potent when made fresh.

Improvs

I have actually made this recipe with almonds…I have added breadcrumbs when nut rations were low and have used sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and corn oil in place of olive oil. I have not used walnut oil although that might work when you run out of walnuts! as I prefer a hint of the walnuts as opposed to walnuts being the predominant flavour.