a simple post on a simple, luscious soup

dear readers, after the last two posts and all those   w o r d s   I must have bored you to teary yawns! Don’t think I don’t care about such things. I’m the first second to recognize you deserve a break!

So here, just one simple recipe, one photo and very few words from spree.

(I can’t launch into this recipe without first telling you –  I am so incorrigible! – that a recent study names beans as one of the top food categories implicated in promoting brain health into old age. The recommendation was for one to two servings per week (at a minimum.) Along with them,  the “super foods”. You know the ones.)

So, with very few words, may I simply offer you a bowl of luscious, comforting, healthful and delicious soup? Here, first…let me swirl my best olive oil on it. You deserve nothing less!

Chickpea Soup

4 servings

• 2 cups (300 g) dried chickpeas
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove (or 2), chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 fresh thyme sprig
• a good pinch of cumin
• a good pinch paprika
• Chicken stock or vegetable stock (water is ok)
• Salt & white pepper to taste
• Your very finest olive oil (the one you’d serve the queen, or your future mother-in-law)

A day before, soak the beans in a large bowl. Fill with fresh cold water by several inches, and allow to sit overnight.

(I recently read – in Cook’s Illustrated – that if you add a ribbon of Kombu seaweed to your dried beans, you can actually do without the soaking, and it has a way of eliminating some of the side-effects as well as improving the texture of all beans cooked with it. I’ll try that next time. Too many words!)

Drain the chickpeas and rinse them. Tumble them into a large saucepan along with the onion, (I like to lightly saute mine first), garlic, bay leaf, thyme, cumin and paprika. Don’t add salt at this time. Add enough stock to cover the chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently until beans are very tender – 40 minutes to 1 hour, unless the chickpeas were a bit older in which case, a bit longer.

Pluck out the herbs. Blend thoroughly in a blender, until creamy smooth.  Strain back into the saucepan. (If you used a VitaMix, straining isn’t necessary.) Reheat and taste, adding salt and pepper, perhaps a touch more cumin, as desired.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with a dash of paprika, or a scattering of thyme leaves, and a good swirl of excellent olive oil.

(This may not sound special, but oh it is.)

Borrowed, gratefully, from

French Taste – Elegant Everyday Eating

a most delightful cookbook by Laura Calder