Good, fast AND cheap: Annalena turns to cans for tomato chickpea kale soup

Do any of my ragazzi of a certain age remember an old industry saying:  "Good.  Fast.  Cheap."  Choose two.  Indeed, if one thinks about it, it is true isn't it?  If you want something done well, and fast, you must pay for it.  If you want it fast, and cheap, don't expect it to be good.  And so on and so forth.  We can play all kinds of combinations, and on a day that is cold and windy (which seems to be the case everywhere today),  it is perhaps a game to play.

But instead, let's apply it to cooking.  We are all very much resting,  restoring, after the craze that is Thanksgiving.  So, while we may not WANT to cook , we really do.  We just don't want anything elaborate.  We want something warm, something easy, and after the excesses of the holiday, we want something good for us.

Can Annalena call a situation or what?     This is why you love her.  And she is coming to the rescue with a soup that is SO good, and SO good for you... you may just not be able to handle it.

Full disclosure here, ragazzi.  Annalena has broken with her precepts and used canned beans rather than soaking the dry ones.  In the frenzy of the holiday, she had forgotten to replenish her supplies of chickpeas. The soonest she could get them was today, and rather than let a day be lost with soaking them, she used organic ones.  And know what?  The soup is good.  It is REALLY good, and it is better than it was supposed to be, because Annalena worked her magic and added greens.

Now, here we go.  You can have this soup on the table in 30 minutes.  You really can.  You start with a small yellow onion, cut in chunks.  Chunk cut two small or one large carrot, and two stalks of celery.  Put them all in a food processor and pulse to dice them, or get your big knife and do it.  Now, put them in a pot with a tablespoon and a  half of olive oil.  Stir in some salt, and let them cook, while you open cans... Yes, ragazzi, cans.  Two one pound cans of chickpeas, and a large can of tomatoes.  Puree, whole, or diced will all work. Pour EVERYTHING into the pot.  EVERYTHING.  And then add a big sprig of rosemary and a bay leaf.  Finally, add a quart of stock.  If you are keeping this vegan, use vegetable stock.  Annalena has never found one she likes so she used chicken.    And, finally, kale.  Annalena had baby kale in the fridge, and stripped about 1/2-3/4 pound of the leaves, and tossed them into the soup.  Bring it all to a simmer for twenty minutes.  Correct the seasonings.

Now, you can eat this soup just as it is.  It is big and chunky.  BUT... if you puree it, you get:





Isn't that a pretty soup?  The picture actually does not give you the true sense of the dark green in the stuff, but that's ok. 

The more adventurous out there will see the opportunity for spicing this as you see fit, adding croutons, and so forth.  Indeed, originally, the recipe called for a tomato chickpea soup with c rispy kale croutons.  Remember "quick"  above?  Annalena has no time for kale chips these days.

You will wind up with 2.5 quarts or so, of a truly good soup.  Go through that recipe again:  1.5  tablespoons of oil, for 2.5 quarts of soup.  Beans.  Vegetables.   Broth.    Can you go wrong?  Annalena thinks not.

Go make a pot of this today.  You will be VERY glad you did.