Chunky Vegetable Soup

In this chilly weather, all I want to do is snuggle up under the covers with a good book to read and my electric blanket on. It can take me anywhere from half an hour to over an hour to get out of bed in the morning, but I can guarantee that if there was a steaming hot bowl of this deliciously chunky vegetable soup on the kitchen table waiting to be devoured, I'd be up in no time! 

This a no-fuss dish that can be made all in the one pot and the great thing about it is that you can be as rustic as you want with it. Once you've got the basics underway, you can experiment with using different combinations of herbs and vegetables. I usually add in more stock, because I prefer the soup to be quite runny.

Serves 4-6:

- 1.2 litres vegetable stock

- 4 celery sticks, finely sliced

- 2 carrots, diced

- 1 turnip, diced

- 2 sweet potatoes, diced

- 4 sprigs thyme

- 400g can butter beans, drained

- Sea salt and cracked pepper

- 2 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley

- Olive oil, to drizzle

- Freshly grated Pecorino (or parmesan), to serve

Heat the stock in a large saucepan. Add the celery, carrots, turnip and sweet potato, and bring to the boil. Lower the heat, add the thyme sprigs, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the butter beans and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Using a hand masher or something similar, carefully mash down on the vegetables in the soup to thicken the liquor slightly, while keeping a good chunky consistency. 

Stir in the parsley and check the seasoning again. Spoon the soup into warm bowls, drizzle with a little olive oil and serve, sprinkled with pecorino and plenty of crusty bread.

Chunky Vegetable Soup