I am really excited to show you this delicious store cupboard recipe today for a Hearty Tomato & Bean Soup. This makes a lovely, quick supper for those nights when you are rushed off your feet and yet your family is nipping at your heels wanting supper NOW!
The original recipe was adapted from one of those recipe booklets that you used to be able to buy next to the til's in the grocery store back home. I think it was Pillsbury or one of those. This is a soup my children always enjoyed and gradually through the years I adapted to our own tastes and needs.
It makes great use of things most people have in their larders most of the time. Tinned Beans, tinned corn, tinned tomatoes, tinned tomato soup . . .
Fresh ingredients include onion and celery, which I am betting most people also have in their larder!
The original recipe called for cooking some bacon at the start, until the fat all rendered out, and then softening the celery and onion in that. We are trying to stay away from processed meats as much as possible, so now I just use a knob of butter, about 1 TBS.
Once you have them softened it is just a matter of dumping all the cans into the soup pan. You do need to drain and rinse the beans but everything else goes in just as is. I chop the whole tomatoes up in the tin with my kitchen scissors.
I also added to the seasonings . . . giving it somewhat of a Tex Mex flair, with mild chili powder. I bring mine back from America. Over here in the UK, use some Taco seasoning, or just to your taste of the unadulterated chili powder they sell in the shops. Our chili powder here in the UK is unadulterated and pure, pure, pure knock your head off hot!
I made that mistake when I first moved over here. I was making chili roasted potatoes and I just added chili powder like I would have at home. YOU COULD NOT EAT THEM! There was a mushroom cloud rising up in the air above them. VOLATILE! Hot as heck!
It uses a tin of condensed tomato soup. This is something which isn't really common over here either, but you can find it in the tinned soup section of most shops. It is a condensed version of tomato soup that you need to add a tin of water to if you are going to eat it as soup. In this recipe, you just stir it in as is.
I'll be honest with you however, I have used a tin of British tomato soup with no problems whatsoever. So just use what you have condensed or not. It really doesn't make much of a difference.
You do need to drain and rinse the beans, but the tin of corn goes in, liquid and all. This helps to keep the soup from being TOO thick.
I add garlic powder and oregano . . . and then right at the end I stir in the juice of a lime. Magnifico!
It adds just the perfect touch and adds a tiny bit of tang, which we really enjoy and which goes really well with the tomatoes, etc.
When you serve it you can sprinkle it with cheese. Todd loves that, and I have sprinkled it with bacon bits that you use on salads, but that is completely optional! If you have opted to use bacon at the beginning, you can crumble that up and sprinkle some over each serving.
Yield: 6
Hearty Tomato & Bean Soup
This hearty soup is quick to throw together, using store cupboard ingredients. Deliciously satisfying. Add a grilled cheese sandwich and every body's happy!
ingredients:
- 1 TBS butter
- 1 stick celery trimmed and chopped
- 1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 (400g) tins of whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped ((1 28-oz tin)
- 1 (400g) tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed (1 15.5-oz tin)
- 1 (10 3/4 oz) tin of CONDENSED tomato soup (Bachelors over here)
- 1 (320g) tin of corn niblets, undrained (1 11-oz)
- 120ml water (1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 TBS MILD chili powder, or to taste
- black pepper to taste
- the juice of one lime
To serve:
- grated cheddar to garnish
- bacon bits (optional)
instructions:
How to cook Hearty Tomato & Bean Soup
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onions and celery. Cook and stir until they are crispy tender. Stir in all of the remaining ingredients with the exception of the lime juice, including all seasonings. Bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook over low for 10 to 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Squeeze in the lime juice and stir. Ladle into heated bowls to serve, garnished with cheese and bacon bits if using.
The original recipe suggested serving this with grilled cheese sandwiches. That always went over really well with my family, but now with just Todd and myself, we just don't have as hearty appetites as all that! We are happy with just the soup. Todd enjoys a slice of buttered bread with his. And that's that!
Up tomorrow: Cheesy Garlic Bread, but maybe not. I am undecided as of yet. Watch this space. I was going to send Todd out for a loaf of fresh French Bread in the morning, but we have someone coming to cut down our fruit trees, so we may scratch the purchase of French Bread. We will see how long they take!
Lve hearty soups!!
ReplyDeleteI do too Monique, especially in the Winter, but sometimes in the summer too. They make a quick and easy meal at times! xoxo
DeleteMade this soup yesterday. I have to say it is one of the best pot of soups I have ever made and eaten. It will become a soup that I will gladly make again and again. Thanks! Ash.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased this was enjoyed Ash! Thanks for taking the time to let us know! xo
DeleteThis looks tasty and filling.....the recipe also seems to be easy to prepare. will surely try myself. thanks
ReplyDeleteWell, that just does it, it is official all the myths are real, this is unfit for human consumption. Putting the content of a few cans together, adding a few herbs, and some butter is not cooking. Sugar? Really? There is enough sugar in the tins for a good slice of cheesecake anyway. I will give you an idea, boil the beans (actual uncooked beans) in this manner, put the beans (600 grams will do) in a pod with COLD water, when it starts to boil, wait a few minutes, then replace the water with a new one this time warm, do it again in a few minutes after boiling. Leave it to cook that way slowly (reduce the heat) when the beans start to soften, put some chopped onions, papers, and carrots, (carrots and peppers give sweetness) maybe celery (yacky) when the beans are almost ready add salt on taste, you may add some Mentha Viridis L. (not ordinary mint, this is not a cocktail) and peel tomato or two (put a tomato in a bowl and pour boiling water on top of it, from a kettle, that makes it easy to peel) or some canned peeled tomatoes, only if there is no added sugar in them. Heat some vegetable oil in a pan, and gently add some red pepper in the boiling oil, half a spoon for a good-sized pot of beans will be enough, stir it with a spoon, so it mixes well with the oil, add some water from the pot with beans, add flour in the pan, 1and 1/2 tablespoons will do, slowly adding them like icing a cake, while stirring with another spoon, you don't want dry flower pockets in your meal. When you got a thick liquid of all this, start mixing it with your beans, slowly pouring it into the pot, while stirring. Leave the pot on the stove for another 5 to 10 minutes on reduced heat, (not boiling) This should take about 20 minutes of preparation and an hour of cooking. (Depends on the beans.)
ReplyDeleteAttention:
1. Do not put the tomatoes and the salt from the beginning or it will take hours for the beans to boil.
2. Do not put the vegetables before the beans are half done, or they will overcook before the beans are ready.
3. Do not skip the changing of the water, or you will have a very foggy jazz night in your bedroom.
4. Some beans are hard to boil, it is advisory when possible to soak your beans in cold water for an hour or more, before cooking, for example, let them to soak in the morning if you will cook them for lunch, or the whole day if you want. An additional reason for soaking your beans is that beans from different fields have different cooking times, depending on soil and nutrition, and industrial farming and packaging result in mixing them.
Obviously making a soup from scratch cannot be beat and I have plenty of recipes on here for soups made from scratch. This was meant to be a quick store-cupboard type of a recipe for those times when you are rushed off your feet, have no time and yet still want to put something delicious down in front of your family. Unless you have actually cooked and tasted this soup, your opinion is based on conjecture and personal opinion, in other words, not fit for human consumption. As a trained chef I do know how to cook, but thanks for your recipe ideas. Happy Christmas.
DeletePS - It costs nothing to be kind.