Tuscan Chickpea Soup

Ingredients

o   4 tbsp olive oil

o   1 large onion, diced

o   2 carrots, chopped

o   3 ribs celery, chopped

o   3 cloves garlic, minced

o   1 tsp oregano

o   ½ tsp red pepper flakes

o   3 tbsp tomato paste

o   2 15oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

o   4 cups veggie stock

o   1 parmesan rind

o   1 cup milk

o   ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

o   2 tsp sherry vinegar

o   handful kale, roughly shredded

o   salt and pepper

Directions

1.     Melt the olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.

2.     Add in the onion, celery, and carrots and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.     Stir in the garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and tomato paste and cook for 3 more minutes.

4.     Add in the chickpeas, veggie stock, and parmesan rind. Bring the soup to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

5.     Remove the parmesan rind (don’t forget this!) Purée around half the soup either with an immersion blender or in a blender.

6.     Stir in the milk, sun-dried tomatoes, sherry vinegar, and shredded kale then let all the flavors combine over low heat for 5-10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.

7.     Top the soup with freshly cracked black pepper and grated parmesan then serve with crusty bread.

I made a tuscan soup many years ago that was very memorable, but sadly had bacon, which is a no go for me these days. My version of the tuscan soup gets some lovely flavor boosts from the sun-dried tomatoes (which make everything better) and the parmesan rind. Full disclosure, this was the first soup where I genuinely noticed a difference with versus without the rind. Don’t skip it! But also don’t forget to remove it before blending because it is very annoying hunting for bits of rind (this has happened too many times to me).