Rustic Italian Soup
with Bacon & Cheesy Croutons
Mamma mia, we’re excited to bring you this rustic soup. It’s got all the good stuff: crispy Parmesan croutons, rich tomato and warming chilli. Partially blending your soup gives it a more ‘creamy’ consistency without adding anything extra - it’s one of our favourite little kitchen hacks!
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Ingredients
1 packet
bacon
1 clove
garlic
½
red onion
1 stalk
celery
1
birdseye chilli
½ block
Parmesan cheese
(Contains Milk;)
1 cube
chicken stock
1 tin
borlotti beans
½ bunch
parsley
1
ciabatta
(Contains Gluten, Soy, Wheat; May be present: Egg, Almond, Hazelnut, Milk, Sesame, Lupin. )
1 tin
diced tomatoes
Not included in your delivery
1 cup
water
Nutritional Values
Utensils
Instructions
Preheat the grill to a medium heat. To prepare the ingredients, remove the bacon fat and finely chop the bacon. Peel and crush the garlic. Finely chop the red onion, celery, birdseye chilli (deseeded) and parsley. Finely grate the Parmesan cheese and crumble the chicken stock. Lastly, drain and rinse the borlotti beans.
Heat a lightly greased large saucepan over a low heat. Add the bacon and fry off until it is slightly crispy at the edges. Then add the garlic, red onion, celery and birdseye chilli. Place the lid slightly ajar on the pan and cook slowly on a low heat for 8 minutes or until soft.
Meanwhile, cut the ciabatta in half and sprinkle with half of the Parmesan cheese. Put the halves on a lined oven tray and slide it under the grill for about 5 minutes - you want to make sure that the bread becomes crunchy. Keep an eye on your bread so that it does not burn! When it is ready, leave it to cool then slice it into thick croutons.
Once the veggies have softened, add the diced tomatoes, water and crumbled chicken stock to the large saucepan. Leave everything to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the borlotti beans and a bit more water if needed, and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Use a hand-held blender to pulse the soup just a couple of times to thicken it up. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Tip: If you don’t have a stick blender, spoon a bit of soup out and blitz with a blender or even mash with a potato masher to get your desired consistency, then stir it through the remaining soup.
When you are ready to serve the soup, stir through the parsley. To serve, add the cheesy croutons and a good grating of the remaining Parmesan cheese.