Italian chickpea Soup

This is a substantial and well-flavoured soup, suitable for winter lunches or a main meal. It would go very well with sun-dried tomato bread. The ingredients are not really voyaging vegetables, but they keep reasonably well and you would still be able to make this soup a week into your passage.

 

Use 1/3 seawater to 2/3 fresh, if the sea is clean, and leave out the salt.

Serves at least 8 as a starter, 2 or 3 for a main course

Ingredients

 

3 large sticks of celery

1 leek

1 cup chickpeas, soaked

5 cups boiling stock or water

2 bay leaves

1½ tsp oregano

3/4 tsp rosemary

1/4 tsp chilli

14 oz/400 g tin of diced tomatoes

 handful of finely chopped fresh basil or parsley, or 1 tsp dried basil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Method:

• Thinly slice the celery.
• Trim the leek, removing the root end and any discoloured outer leaves; trim the top. Slice thinly, washing any slices that have grit or soil lodged in them.
• Drain the chickpeas and put them in your pressure cooker, together with the water/stock, celery, leek, bay leaves, oregano, rosemary and chilli.
• Bring to pressure over a high heat and then cook at high pressure for 20 minutes. Reduce pressure naturally.
• Remove the bay leaves and discard. With a slotted spoon, take out 4 or 5 spoons of chickpeas and put them in a bowl together with half the tomatoes. Mash together to thicken the soup.
• Put the tomato/chickpea mix back in the pressure cooker together with the parsley or basil and the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
• Simmer for a further few minutes so that the tomato flavour permeates the whole and serve hot. 

Variations:

• Add (vegan) Parmesan cheese at the table.
• Try using butter beans instead of the chickpeas

Butter bean spread

This is a very useful recipe if you have a few cans of ready-cooked beans on board, and is capable of a large number of variations. Many people refer to these spreads as ‛hummus’, but hummus means chickpea, so to do so is quite incorrect! If you don’t have any canned beans, you will need to cook 1/2 cup of dried beans to make the equivalent amount. 

 Serves 4 for a starter 

400 g (14 oz) can butter beans OR 1/2 cup dried, cooked

1/2 tsp dried, minced garlic

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

 

Method:

• Drain the beans and put them into a bowl.
• Mash them with a fork, then mix in the garlic, the olive oil and the lemon juice, stirring and mashing until a smooth paste is formed.
• Add pepper. Taste and decide whether salt is needed.
• Serve in a sandwich, or on rolls, toast or crackers.

Variations:

• Substitute soft butter or mayonnaise for the olive oil.
• Use coconut butter. 
• Instead of lemon juice, use lime juice or balsamic vinegar. 
• Add some hot sauce to the mix.
• Try adding some Worcestershire sauce. 
• Add diced onion or pepper. 
• Try different types of canned beans. 
• Mix in some of Annie's Mixed Herbs when you put in the garlic. 
• Add a tsp of curry paste to the mix.
• If you happen to have some on board, add some fresh, chopped herbs to the spread.
• Use half a dozen chopped black olives instead of, or in addition to the garlic.
• Add a tsp chopped capers.
• Add some diced pickled peppers.

Butter bean and sun-dried tomato spread

Warning: blender alert!

 

Sun-dried tomatoes, especially those sold in oil, have a rich flavour that is far beyond that of mere tomatoes. This is a great spread or pâté, depending on how posh you feel! It also makes an excellent sandwich filling or goes well with thick slices of fresh, crusty bread for lunch. Use cannellinni beans of butter beans are unobtainable.

I recommend a stick blender for this - the pâté ends up quite thick and it is difficult to move it around in a blender. I also prefer it to have a bit of texture.  You could finely cut up the sun-dried tomatoes and mash the other ingredients, perhpas pounding the beans with a mortar; I’m sure the spread would still be quite wonderful.

Serves 4 as a starter

6 halves of sun-dried tomatoes in oil

2 tbsp oil from the jar

juice of 1 lemon OR a few small pieces of salted lemon

400 g tin butter beans, or 1/2 cup dried beans, cooked

3-4 tbsp reserved water

5-6 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried

salt and pepper

Method:

• Tip the sun-dried tomatoes, oil, lemon juice and 3 tbsp water into a bowl.  Use the blender to chop up the tomatoes  
• Drain the beans, reserving the liquid, and add to the blender with thyme leaves (or dried thyme).
• Blend to a pâté-type consistency, as smooth as you want. Then taste and add salt and black pepper as required. Be careful with the salt: sun-dried tomatoes, canned beans and the salted lemon (if you're using it) might already have added enough salt.  
  If the spread is a little too thick, stiff, add some of the reserved bean liquid, or maybe a drop of wine. Blend again until you get the right consistency.

Serve with toast or crackers, in sandwiches, or with fresh bread.

Variations:

• Instead of lemon juice, use lime juice or balsamic vinegar. 
• Add some hot sauce or chilli flakes to the mix.
• Add diced onion or pepper. 
• Add 1/4 tsp dried, minced garlic
• Mix in some of Annie's Mixed Herbs as well as, or instead of the thyme.
• Use half a dozen chopped black olives.
• Add a tsp chopped capers.
• Add some diced pepperdews
• Use 1 tsp za'atar in place of the thyme.