CHICKPEA SOUP WITH FENNEL, SUN-DRIED TOMATOES AND BABY CHARD or MINESTRA DI CECI CON FINOCCHIO, POMODORI SECCHI E BIETOLINE

After months on end without rain, it is now raining more or less non-stop here and I am not used to it at all! I forget to bring umbrellas and use wrong shoes all the time. And I forget to remind my children to bring umbrellas too even though most of them are big enough to think for themselves. Not that teenagers are particularly good at that if it doesn't have a direct connection to their image or being but still, I do expect some kind of survival instinct in them. One of them lacks it completely, at least it seems so to me and I can tell you that it makes a mother worried to have a child like that. I also realize that my fears probably are exaggerated but in this way I am always pleasantly surprised and that is a nice feeling!

With all this rain and cold winds I need soups and filling ones too but I also need some freshness to it and I find that adding fresh baby chard or spinach to legume soups at the very end provides me with all the freshness I want.




CHICKPEA SOUP WITH FENNEL, SUN-DRIED TOMATOES AND BABY CHARD or MINESTRA DI CECI CON FINOCCHIO, POMODORI SECCHI E BIETOLINE
4 servings

250 g/8,8 oz chickpeas, cooked
1 small fennel bulb
1 small onion
2 whole sun-dried tomatoes
1 l/ 4,2 cups vegetable stock
fresh baby chard, as much as you want, I suggest a lot
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Chop fennel and onion and put in a in a soup pan and cook slowly in some olive oil for 3-4 minutes. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes and add to the pan and go on cooking.
- After 4-5 minutes, add the chickpeas and when they have absorbed some of the flavours, you add the stock and leave it to simmer for 20-30 minutes under a half-closed lid.
- Run the soup in a mixer until smooth and then bring the soup to the boil. When it boils, turn of the heat and add the baby chard. Stir, check the salt and then serve the soup.