White Bean and Winter Greens Soup

Ingredients

• can of cannellini beans
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 6 shallots, sliced
• 4 sticks of celery, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 5-6 small waxy potatoes, sliced
• 450g Swiss chard or other greens, e.g. cabbage
• 1.2l vegetable stock

The pistou

• 2 bunches of basil (about 80g)
• 2 large cloves of garlic
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Heat the olive oil on a medium heat. Add all the vegetables and potatoes ,apart from the Swiss chard, and sauté until they are nice and soft, stirring from time to time and keeping the lid on (20-30 minutes)
2. Meanwhile, prepare the chard. Cut the stalk away from the green lead and thinly slice. Add these bits to the veg pot and thinly slice the green leafy part, keeping it aside for the moment.
3. When the vegetables are soft, add the beans, stir to coat and pour in the veg stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
4. Make the pisto, by blending together all the ingredients.
5. Blend the soup, then stir in the sliced green chard leaves and allow to simmer for just a couple of minutes. Finally, add the pistou and check the seasoning.
6. Leave to sit for 5 mins with the lid on before serving.