kelley cooks

Chickpea, fennel, and leek soup

I love fennel, but when I got bored with my usual uses (pickled, roasted, pasta-d) I asked around for more ideas. This soup, adapted from a Venetian restaurant’s cookbook, is so easy and so good and now a staple in my home.

With just 5 ingredients and ready in under 30 minutes it’s the perfect addition to your recipe rotation.

Adapted from: Polpo / Angela Bunt
photo of completed recipe: Chickpea, fennel, and leek soup

  • You'll be eating in: 30 minutes

  • Active time: 10 minutes

  • Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1bulb fennel, roughly chopped
  • 2leeks, sliced and washed
  • 2tablespoons olive oil
  • 1(14.5 ounce) can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 3-4cups of vegetable stock
  • salt, pepper, red pepper flake to taste

Instructions

  1. Sauté

    Roughly chop the fennel and leeks (you'll blend this later so be lazy here). In a medium pot, sauté in olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

  2. Add chickpeas

    Drain and rinse one can of chickpeas, add to pot. Cover with stock and simmer for 5 minutes.

  3. Blend

    Use an immersion blender to blend the soup in the pot. Alternatively, transfer soup to a blender and blend (be careful to cover the blender lid with a towel to prevent soup exploding and burning your hand, ask me how I know).

  4. Serve

    Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve with a drizzle of your favorite olive oil and crusty bread or croutons.

Notes

  • Use less stock for a thicker soup, you can always add more after blending
  • Reserve some unblended soup if you prefer a chunky texture

Substitutions

Leeks: Replace the leeks with any combination of alliums: I've used combinations of yellow onion, baby leeks, caramelized onion, shallots, and garlic.

Chickpeas: any canned white bean would work well here too.

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