Aromatic Chick Pea (Garbanzo Bean) Soup

This is a recipe that I created after being inspired by a TV show and the season. I posted it on my blog (www.baileytriplef.blogspot.com) on 12/27/10). For some reason, I am craving it today regardless of the summer heat. The recipe calls for canned beans, which is all I had on hand the day I created the recipe but you can use dried (soaked, etc.) that I actually prefer. I hope you enjoy!

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 8-12
• Yields: 1 pot of soup

Ingredients

• 2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed, strained, drained, and remove the papery shells
• 2  pints  stock, preferably turkey
• 1  large yellow onion, diced
• 3  celery ribs, diced
• 2  fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 2  large carrots, peeled & diced
•  salt
•  pepper
•  nonstick cooking spray
•  olive oil, to garnish
•  rosemary, a few fresh sprigs
•  sage, a few fresh sprigs
•  thyme, a few fresh sprigs

Directions

1. Heat a soup pot over medium heat and add a generous amount of cooking spray. Add onion, celery and carrots and sweat for a few minutes until softened.
2. Add garlic and herbs and stir. Add to your liking - some people like it stronger or milder than others. BTW - If you tie the herbs with a string removal later is much easier.
3. Cook for a minute or two and add chick peas. Season. Cook another minute and add the stock. Season again. Bring to a boil and quickly reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
4. This soup is SO aromatic that your whole house will smell warm and cozy!
5. Remove the herbs and puree soup. Normally I would use my hand held immersion blender here, but I decided to use my big regular blender because I wanted this soup to be velvety smooth. Use whatever equipment you feel works best for you.
6. Pour the soup back to the pot and cook at low heat for another 15-20 minutes until it reduces further. Its important that it doesn't get too hot or simmer too long or the texture will get a bit grainy -- this goes for any blended vegetable or cream based soup.
7. I served the soup with a tiny drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil (I love the flavor and would rather use it here than in the cooking process) and some homemade garlic & rosemary croutons (let me know if you want me to post how I made these - but they are a super easy and great way to get use of some stale bread).