Learning Objective
You will learn how to make a cauliflower and chickpea soup with croutons.
Every day at the School I make sure we all have lunch together and each day I make something different so that our food is as diverse as possible. I make a lot of different fresh soups which we all love and here is one, a Cauliflower and Chickpea Soup, that we all enjoyed…
We work with Hodmedods, in the UK. They recently wrote about the UN Food and Agriculture Organization defining Agroecology as a “holistic and integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agriculture and food systems
This soup isn’t just about eating something delicious it is also following the principles of agroecology and to encouraging you to facilitate change just by the way you eat your bread. Hodmedods with wit British farms to support and encourage more diverse arable production and to provide a diverse range of delicious and nutritious wholefood. There is a great study here on chickpeas nourishing the gut microbiome of mice here... lucky mice …
WARNING
If you suffer with IBS then this is a recipes I urge caution with. Our approach is to have a very small amount, and slowly retrain your microbes to be able to digest the oligosaccharides. Our nutritionalist advises to freeze the soup into very small batches and have a small about each day building up very slowly.
I would recommend that you make the Orange & Rosemary Sourdough Croutons at the same time as you make the soup, or in advance if you prefer.
Cauliflower & Chickpea Soup
Diversity score: 8+
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 red onions, chopped
1.5 litres stock (vegetable or beef)
4 courgettes, chopped
3 cauliflowers, chopped into small florets
2 tins coconut milk 400g each
2 tins chickpeas 400g each Or you can buy British chick peas here
salt and pepper to taste
small handful parsley, chopped
2 oranges, zested and squeezed (retain zest to make croutons)
All the fresh ingredients for this soup were supplied by Riverford Organic Farmers
Equipment:
Chopping board and knife
Zester/grater
Measuring jug
Large saucepan with lid
Hand blender
Method:
Add the olive oil to the pan and gently saute the onions until soft. Add the stock, cauliflower, coconut milk and chickpeas and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. Add the courgettes and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes until the courgettes are cooked. Add the fresh orange juice and salt and pepper to taste. Blend with a hand blender to your preferred consistency.
Up to this point the soup is vegan. However when you serve it if you prefer you can add crumbled cheese such as feta or organic Wootton White cheese made from sheep’s milk, supplied by Riverford, as we did.
Serve with sourdough or our Orange & Rosemary Sourdough Croutons with fresh parsley sprinkled on top.
For cooking instructions Hodmedods advise
Soak the chickpeas for 6 hours. Cover with water or stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 to 50 minutes until the chickpeas are soft. Add more water if needed. To cook from dry in a pressure cooker put 500g in the cooker, cover with around 1.5 to 2 litres of water (or, better, stock) – depending on what you’re planning to do with the chickpeas this is also a good time to add an onion, some garlic, possibly a chilli and other spices and herbs. Bring to pressure, cook for 20 minutes, leave to stand and cool.
Learning Outcome
You will know how to make a delicious soup with the addition of orange and rosemary sourdough croutons.