leek and chickpea soup

I've been charging along with my New Years resolution to eat more veg meals (I'm being so good and only have fish - no red meat or chicken). Here is a great one I pulled out of a library book. It's oh so tasty! This mighty Italian dish is a meal in one that will warm your cockles and give you some good ol nourishment of body and soul. Be patient with your sweating, its worth it. It doesn't look like much but serve this baby with some sourdough and you'll be blushing in shame at how judgemental you were.
This amount makes two servings.

You'll need:

1 cup of dried or canned chickpeas
1 tblspn olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
1-2 leeks, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tblspn of rosemary, finely chopped
1 litre of stock or water. I used vege stock but you could use chicken if you're that way inclined.
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch of spinach leaves (remove the stems), chop up coarsely

If you're using dried chickpeas, soak these overnight.

Heat the oil in a medium size saucepan. Saute the onion, celery, leeks, garlic and rosemary VERY slowly, until soft but not coloured. We're talking half an hour of sweating, keep your temp low and the veges moving. Don't add salt yet.

Add the chickpeas and the stock/water and bring to a simmer. If you're using dried chick peas cook these for around 60mins, canned only needs 10mins.

Place a cup and half of the soup in a processor and make it smooth. Add it back to the soup, add your salt and pepper now and then just before it goes in a bowl pop the spinach in until its wilted.

Hot Dang, that's some good soup - is what you'll be saying. C gave this one a 10/10.



We had a lovely weekend up in Riwaka. That area is gorgeous, did some sea swimming at Kaiteriteri (no crowds!), wine tasting in Mahana, lunching in Mapua and kayaking in Riwaka.