Vegetable Soup With Chickpeas and Spinach

Eat Your Vegetables!'s Note:

The Andalusians call this soup potaje de vigilia, or 'fasting soup.' Actually a robust soup, it is so named because it would often be eaten during the Christian Lent, due to the absence of meat. This recipe is from the vegetarian cookbook Mediterranean Harvest.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 7

• 1 cup dried garbanzo beans , soaked overnight and drained
• 6 cups water
• kosher salt
• 4 slices baguette
• 1 ½ tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion , chopped
• 3 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled seeded and chopped or 1 cup canned chopped tomato with juice
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 lb potato , diced
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1 lb spinach , stemmed and chopped
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)
• ¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley , chopped
• 1 pinch saffron , crumbled
• 1 large egg , hard-cooked and chopped

Directions:

1. Combine the drained chickpeas and 4 c of the water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Add 1 t salt and continue to simmer until tender, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Toast the bread until golden and tear it into smaller pieces. Place in a small bowl and douse with the vinegar.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, abut 3 minutes. Add 1/3rd of the garlic, the tomatoes, and the paprika, and cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes cook down to a thick paste, 10-15 minutes.
4. Add the chickpeas with their liquid, the potatoes, another teaspoon of salt, pepper, and the remaining 2 c water. Bring to a boil reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in the spinach and simmer another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Add the remaining garlic, the soaked bread, pine nuts, parsley, saffron, and hard-cooked egg to the soup. Stir once, turn off the heat, and let the soup rest for 10 minutes. Serve hot.