Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 3 carrots, finely diced
- 4 celery stalks, finely diced
- 300g fennel bulb, finely diced
- 200g courgette, finely diced
- 800ml water
- 300g podded broad beans (fresh, tinned or frozen)
- 2 large tomatoes, cut into 3cm cubes
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 15g parmesan cheese, grated (or nutritional yeast flakes if you prefer a plant-based soup), to serve
For the red pesto:
- 25g fresh basil leaves
- 50ml olive oil
- 100g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
- 100g roasted red peppers from a jar
- 2 garlic cloves
Directions
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and add all the vegetables, apart from the broad beans and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and sauté for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have slightly caramelised. Boil the water and add to the saucepan along with the broad beans (you can add frozen ones as they are -no need to defrost first) and simmer for another 6-8 minutes until the vegetables are soft but not mushy. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further minute then take off the heat.
- Put all the red pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor and blitz until nice and smooth.
- Pour the soup into bowls, swirl the pesto into the soup and sprinkle with a dusting of Parmesan for umami flavour.
VARIATION: Swap the broad beans for canned cannellini beans or borlotti beans if you like.
Recipe extracted from The Doctor's Kitchen – Eat To Beat Illness by Dr Rupy Aujla, published by Thorsons, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Photography by Faith Mason.
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Tips
Jarred red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes tend to have added salt so be mindful of this when seasoning during the cooking process.
