🥘 Carole’s bean and bacon soup…

As temperatures plummet, cook this hearty soup. Stuffed with vitamins and flavoursome herbs, this is a winter warmer to keep colds at bay.

Make the soup in a saucepan and use a stick blender, or use a Thermomix©

Ingredients:

• 1 pack smokey lardons
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell red pepper, chopped and deseeded
• herbes de Provence
• 1 tin / jar cannellini beans
• 1 stock cube (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree + 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• chopped parsley (lots of it)

Step by step:

1. Fry off the lardons and chopped onion, until softened and starting to brown
2. Add the chopped bell pepper and a good sprinkle herbes de Provence, the flour and chopped parsley. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and 500ml hot stock
3. Cook until the peppers are soft. Add the cannellini beans and cook for another five minutes.
4. Season to taste, and serve with a swirl of olive oil and crusty bread

Tips:

• Be sure to rinse your beans unless you want a thicker soup
• We used Kallo organic vegetable stock cubes with excellent results.
• Use a good helping of chopped parsley to garnish