Poll: Funnel and White Bean Soup

Preparation time: 15 minutes. Serves: 4

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 900ml (1 ½ pints) vegetable stock
• 2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 courgette, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
• 6 tomatoes, finely chopped or 400g (13oz) can tomatoes
• Two 400g (13oz) cans butter beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage
• Freshly ground black pepper

Procedure 

Place 300ml (1/2 pint) of stock in a large saucepan. Add the fennel, onion, courgette, carrot and garlic. Cover and bring to the boil. Continue boiling for 5 minutes, then remove the lid, reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Stir in the tomatoes, beans, and sage. Season to taste with pepper and pour in the remaining stock. Simmer for five minutes, and then allow the soup to cool slightly.

Transfer 300ml (1/2 pint) of the soup to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Return the blended portion to the pan, stir and heat through gently.

Nutritional Tips

When buying canned vegetable; always choose the ‘no added salt’ varieties. If these are not available, rinse and drain vegetables such as beans and sweet corn. This removes some but not all of the salt.