Spicy chickpea and chard soup

This is one of my favourite soups. I love chickpeas and I adore chilli! The chilli gives a real kick to the chickpeas and chard. I use one whole fresh red chilli in this recipe, but you can adjust according to taste. You could omit it altogether if you prefer or, if cooking for people who don’t like spicy flavours, just add some dried chilli (hot red pepper) flakes over the top of individual portions at the end. If you can’t find Swiss chard, you can substitute spinach, but add this about 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Served with toasted
bread, this makes a delicious, warming meal.

Cooking time: 25 minutes (not including veg preparation)

Portions: serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 
• 1 shallot, finely chopped 
• ½ celery stalk, finely chopped 
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped 
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped 
• 180 g/6¼ oz/2 cups Swiss chard, stalk and leaves finely chopped 
• 200 g/7 oz canned chopped tomatoes 
• 1×400-g/14-oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) (240 g/8½ oz drained weight) 400 ml/14 fl oz/1¾ cups hot vegetable stock (bouillon)

Ingredients to serve:

• 2–4 slices of country-style bread, such as Pugliese or a nice sourdough 
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and left whole 
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan set over a medium–high heat. Add the shallot, celery, garlic and chilli, and sweat for a couple of minutes. Stir in the Swiss chard and continue to sweat for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, drained chickpeas and vegetable stock, bring to the boil, then lower the heat
to medium, cover with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, grill (broil) or toast the slices of bread, rub the garlic clove all over the toasted surface of the bread, and drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil.Divide the soup between individual bowls, drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil, and serve with the garlicky toasted bread.