I first made this soup to use up bits of food left in the fridge, but enjoyed it so much, it's now a regular recipe at home.
It's a hearty, warming soup with a lovely flavour from the chorizo. I tend to use a 'dulce' (sweet) chorizo, but do use a 'picante' (spicy) version if you prefer something with a bit more heat.
If you don't have all of the ingredients, do experiment - I've used pepper instead of carrot and cannellini beans instead of mixed beans and it still worked out really well!
I like to include Conchigliette pasta shells, but if you can't find any then just break up larger bits of pasta and throw them in instead. It's a versatile recipe.
Serves 4-6
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion
2 celery sticks
2 carrots
2 garlic cloves
4 ripe tomatoes (or a small tin of chopped tomatoes)
75g chorizo sausage
400g tin of mixed beans
2 tablespoons of tomato puree
800ml chicken stock
50g small pasta (or larger pasta broken into pieces)
Seasoning
To garnish:
Flat leaf parsley
Parmesan or vegan parmesan (optional)
- Cut the onion, carrots and celery into small dice.
- Cut the tomatoes into small dice and set aside.
- Cut the chorizo into small dice and set aside.
- Drain and rinse the mixed beans.
- Peel the garlic and grate with a fine grater (or crush it directly into the pan at step 8).
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy based pan. Add the chopped vegetables (except the tomatoes) and stir well.
- Sauté over a low heat until the onions are translucent.
- Add the chorizo and crushed garlic and cook for further 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, mixed beans and stock. Throw in the pasta and then stir to combine. Season well with salt and black pepper.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.
- Serve with chopped flat leaf parsley and grated parmesan.
