Kale and white bean soup with Parmesan toasts
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
Kale and white bean soup with Parmesan toasts
Prep time: 20 minsTotal time: 
Alice Hart
Alice Hart is a Sussex-born food and travel writer, trained chef and food stylist. Her vegetarian recipes are packed with natural ingredients offering feel-good food for all.
Alice Hart
Alice Hart is a Sussex-born food and travel writer, trained chef and food stylist. Her vegetarian recipes are packed with natural ingredients offering feel-good food for all.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- a pinch of dried chilli flakes
- 2 x 410g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
- 100g shredded green kale
- a small squeeze of lemon juice
For the Parmesan toasts:
- 8 thin slices of baguette, ideally wholemeal
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 50g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative), finely grated
Step by step
Make the soup the day before, chill. Reheat before serving and add the lemon juice to serve.
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Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, set over a low-medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan and cook gently, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until softened. Turn up the heat, stir in the tomato purée, garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a minute or so. Add the cannellini beans to the pan with the stock and thyme leaves and bring up to the boil. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 5 minutes.
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Remove the saucepan from the heat and tip half of the soup into a bowl. Using a handheld blender whiz the remaining soup to a purée. Return the rest to the pan and stir in the kale. Season and bring back to a simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often until the kale is completely tender. Stir in the lemon juice to lift the flavours.
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To make the Parmesan toasts, preheat the grill to medium. Brush the baguette slices with the olive oil and space out on a baking sheet. Grill for a couple of minutes, until pale golden. Turn the toasts over and sprinkle the non-grilled sides with half the grated Parmesan. Return to the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
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Serve the hot soup, scattered with the reserved Parmesan, with the Parmesan toasts.
