SPICY SWEETNESS

Let me introduce you to a super-easy, super-yummy and super-supper for mid week! My Tomato & Mexican Bean Soup is a great go-to recipe and helpfully uses up lots of ingredients that you may have knocking around ……?

The blend of tomatoes with beans, chilli, red pepper and topped with crunchy croutons is great – a lip-smacking blend of spice and sweetness.

This is a recipe that I’ve used so many times – pimping it up with fried chorizo bits (below), decorating it with swirls of sour cream, topping it with crunchy croutons or just having a quick bowl before heading out.

The base is easy – onions, garlic, spices, tomatoes – and these can be tinned/passata/fresh – what ever you have about. You then add stock – whether that be fresh or cubed. Blend it to a consistency you wish to have – from rustic to smooth – and then add mixed beans….. which leads me to one of my trusted larder ingredients.

Mixed beans – red kidney beans, pinto beans, cannelloni beans, borlotti beans, black eye beans – are available in single variety tins, dried or mixed together. The bean mixes are either in spring water or tomato sauce and if you’ve spotted my fave – chilli tomato sauce. A perfect mix of beans, chilli & tomato and the final ingredient to this soup. Those who follow me closely will know that I also use this chilli bean mix in my family-favourite chilli-con-carne…… it’s just so easy!

TOMATO & MEXICAN BEAN SOUP with chorizo croutons
Serves 4 Prep time : 10 mins Cooking time : 30 mins

1 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed 1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp mild chilli powder ½ tsp ground cumin
400g chopped tomatoes 500ml vegetable stock
400g can mixed beans, drained 1 red pepper, cut into chunky dice
2 pieces of white bread Chorizo sausage

1. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan and fry the chopped onion over a medium heat until tender. Add the garlic and tomato purée, stirring for 1-2 mins until combined. Sprinkle in the spices and cook for another 1 min.

2. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, half fill the can with water, and add to the pan. Pour in the stock and simmer on a medium heat for 10-15 mins, uncovered. Season, then whizz using a hand blender until smooth. Add the beans and red pepper, and cook for another 15 mins until the pepper is tender.

3. In the meantime, cut the crusts of the bread and cut into small cubes. Take skin off chorizo and cut into similar size pieces. Heat a small amount of oil in a pan and add chorizo and allow to sizzle. Add bread and turn through chorizo oil until bread is coated and fried. Take off heat the pour onto a piece of kitchen paper to soak up any excess oil. Add to bowls of soup as you serve.

 For more ideas and recipes – come and join me at my regular cooking demos. Informal groups of up to 8 people, around my kitchen table, tasting and chatting. A 2 course lunch/supper is included along with welcome coffee & homemade cakes, recipes to take home and lots of inspiration!

 

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