Chorizo, Vegetable and Cannellini Bean Soup with Gluten Free Croutons

Hearty vegetable and cannellini bean soup with chorizo sausage is an ideal winter warmer for cold Melbourne evenings. It has an intense combination of sweet and sour taste from vegetables, smoky flavour from bacon and gentle heat from chorizo and chili peppers. With this soup , I always have to be ready to serve the second helping.

I make this soup dense and thick without using any prepared or bought stock. Variety of vegetables provide abundance of flavours to the soup, helped by garlic, chili peppers, barberries and fennel seeds. All the initial frying and further cooking of the soup is done in one pot. With preparation time, it takes only 45-50min to make family dinner.

Ingredients: makes 4-5 generous servings

1 chorizo sausage, make sure it is gluten free
2-3 rashes of gluten free English style short cut bacon (any other smoked short cut bacon will do)
drained and rinsed tinned cannellini beans
tin of diced tomatoes
2 small onions
3 celery sticks
2 carrots
1 red capsicum
1 zucchini, peeled
2 small potatoes
white cabbage, 1 cup shredded
1 red chili pepper
2 large cloves of fresh garlic

1 tea spoon of fennel seeds
1/2 tea spoon mixed whole peppercorns
1 table spoon dry barberries
2 table spoons of olive oil
salt and coarse black pepper for seasoning

croutons – optional

gluten free bread of choice – one slice per serving
finely chopped fresh coriander
finely chopped mild chili pepper
butter/olive oil
salt

Preparation:

heat olive oil in deep pan/pot, add fennel seeds and peppercorns
dice onions, garlic and chili pepper
lightly cook garlic, onions and chili peppers
season with salt

add diced smoked bacon and chorizo sausage and continue cooking on low heat with occasional stir

add chopped carrots, celery and red capsicum

add diced zucchini and shredded cabbage, stir

add drained and rinsed cannellini beans and canned tomatoes
stir and mix all ingredients
add 700 ml of boiling water, check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste
cook the soup on medium heat for 30 min, water has to just cover all ingredients

croutons

cut bread slices in squares
mix together chopped coriander and chili pepper
drizzle bread with oil and cover it in coriander and chili peppers mixture, season with salt
bake croutons in preheated 170 degrees oven for 10 min, or just cook them on non stick pan until light brown