Crunchy Cook Recipe: Tuscan Tomato & Bean Soup

This is a hearty, filling soup that works as well for a dinner as well as for lunch, and is packed with six types of vegetable plus two kinds of beans for protein. It is delicious with Parmesan grated over at the end!

We’ve made it as easy as possible for you to make this dish by packing the ingredients into a Crunchy Cook meal kit bag: we weigh everything out for you, include a recipe sheet and have filmed a step-by-step video showing you how to make it: How to Make Our Tuscan Tomato & Bean Soup Video. Crunchy Cook bags save you time, cost almost the same as buying the ingredients in-store (we add 50p for packaging and packing), and cut food waste because you buy exactly what you need.

Find out more about the bags, including how to order them, here.

Serves 4

Notes:

• This soup is even better the day after it’s made.

• Cavolo nero might be substituted for another leafy vegetable e.g. cabbage, depending on seasonal availability: simply slice and add at the same time as indicated below.

Ingredients

Basic recipe, ingredients included in the bag
1 large onion, diced
2 celery sticks, thinly sliced
1 leek, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, cut into chunks
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked
½ to 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes
1 vegetable stock cube, made up with 700ml water
1 tin cannellini beans, drained
1 tin flageolet or borlotti beans, drained
2 bay leaves
150g cavolo nero, stalks removed and leaves roughly sliced

Not included in the bag
1 tablespoon oil
Salt and pepper 

Possible additions
30g grated Parmesan cheese or vegetarian alternative
Juice ½ lemon
A tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika, to turn it into a Mexican-style soup

Method

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Turn the heat down low and add the onion, carrot, leek and celery. Put the lid on and sweat until lightly browned and softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the garlic, rosemary and thyme and cook for another two or three minutes (add sweet smoked paprika now if using).

Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, bay leaves and beans. Crush the tomatoes up with the back of the wooden spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Top Tip: Go easy on adding salt as the stock will already be salty.

Simmer until carrots almost soft, then add the cavolo nero. Simmer a couple more minutes before serving. (Stir through lemon juice or pesto, and / or top with Parmesan, if using.)

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Cooking Techniques Explained

Sweat: cooking vegetables gently in oil or butter so they soften without browning too much. For example, to sweat onion means to gently cook it over a low heat until it turns translucent without browning. Putting a lid on the pan helps this process by causing condensation to drop back into the pan and stop the veg drying out.

Boil: Heating a liquid until it bubbles vigorously.

Simmer: Heating until bubbles gently break the surface, below boiling point.

Dice: Cutting food into small cube shapes, about 0.5cm wide.

Crush: Usually used when preparing garlic: once you’ve chopped it as small as you can, crush it into a paste using the edge of your knife or a spoon to get as much flavour out as possible.

Sauté: quickly frying in a hot pan, in oil or butter.