Leek and Butterbean Soup

Sainsbury's had 2 for one on leeks this week, so it would have been rude not to get the second bag and this soup is the result. This light soup has the lovely sweet flavour of the leeks and butterbeans and is super healthy. The nutmeg adds a subtle earthy hint - you can add more nutmeg if you wish, but add a little at a time because it is a very strong flavour.

Ingredients:

non stick cooking spray

3 celery sticks, chopped

500g trimmed leeks, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly crushed with the back of a knife

salt

pepper

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 bay leaf

1 veggie stock cube

800ml boiling water

1 400g tin butterbeans

To make:

1) Spray cooking spray into a pot over a medium heat. Add celery, leeks and cook for 2 minutes, then add garlic, salt, pepper, nutmeg and bayleaf. Cook covered for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally until the leeks and celery are soft.

2) Crumble a stock cube over the veggies, and stir to mix together. Then pour water over the top, stir, cover and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Add the tin of beans and cook a further 5 mins.

4) Put the soup in a blender or use a hand held blender, and blend until smooth.

5) Taste and adjust the seasoning if desired, then pour into bowls.

6) Swirl a little soy milk or yoghurt through each bowl, and add a sprig of parsley and freshly ground pepper.

7) Serve with fresh crusty bread rolls (I had a very domestic moment and made poppyseed rolls to accompany).

Leeks have the same health benefits of onions, just in slightly smaller quantities. They are great for winter as they have antibacterial properties and help to fight colds. They also contain vitamins C and E. (Nutritional reference from Complete Vegetarian; Nicola Graimes (ed); 2009).

Sweet Potato and Bean Soup

This recipe is ridiculously easy to make. I wanted to make muffins as well this evening, so made a dinner that could literally just be thrown together and left.

It's pretty much a Jill Dupleix recipe (my mum sent it to me ages ago from one of her recipe books and I've found it online http://www.jilldupleix.com/recipes/rec067.php), I've just upped the spice a bit.

There is a really nice amount of heat to this, and the flame orange colour of the soup and the red of the paprika reinforces the spicy taste.

Ingredients:

4 medium - large orange fleshed sweet potatoes, cut into small pieces

5 cups of boiling water or veg stock (I crumbled a stock cube over the veg and added water on top)

Salt and pepper

400g can of white beans, rinsed (I used cannelini beans. Butterbeans would also be good and Chickpeas would give a more Moroccan taste)

1 heaped tsp curry power (I used medium heat)

1 heaped tsp ground cumin

Plain soy yoghurt (or dairy if you prefer)

Paprika to sprinkle

A small handful of parsley, chopped

To make:

1) Put the sweet potatoes, stock or water and salt (not too much) and pepper in a pot. Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer. I left it for about half an hour while I made muffins.

2) When the potato is very soft, take off the heat and add the spices and 1/2 the can of beans, stir well.

3) Either transfer to a blender or use a stick blender to get a smooth soup. I prefer using a stick blender as there's no fuss with transferring and you don't need to wait for it to cool.

4) If you have used a blender, return to the pot and add the other 1/2 of the beans. If it's too thick for your liking, add a bit more boiling water to achieve the consistency you like, bring the soup back to a gentle simmer.

5) Pour into bowls and top with a couple of spoonfuls of yoghurt, a sprinkling of paprika and some parsley. Serve with mini naan breads if desired.

So easy, so healthy, yet so delicious and very visually appealing.

I would say served 4 with bread, but this served 2 very big bowls (with one having a second bowl) without bread.