couch potato (chickpea)

I'm sick. As in I have a head cold which makes all my previous colds look like complete wimps. This one is a doozy. I'm hoping miss s does not get it. I girded my loins, slapped on loads of concealer this morning and told myself to get over it and went a meet a girlfriend for coffee (hello ms c!) but as I drove home I felt worse than ever.

Why am I writing a blog post? Well of course, miss s is full of smiles and wants to groove around on the floor so I need to stay up and alert, not wrapped in my doona watching DVDS on my laptop as I would pre-baby. Luckily I've called in reinforcements and mum is coming over tomorrow at the crack of dawn.

Love my mum.

Luckily my freezer contains some magic soup. It is quite wintery at the moment so soup is quite fitting. I'm actually not in the mood to eat but my milk supply is suffering enough as it is with this cold so am doing the right thing.

I've been making this soup for a long time. It is derived from Jamie Oliver who in turn said he stole it from an Australian chef who stole it from Womans Weekly. Mr k does not believe a meal is a meal unless it contains meat. I make this and he is a happy man. It is his favourite soup and if he has been good, I even make Parmesan toasties to go with it.

When I am in a rush, I just do the stock, canned chickpeas and leeks - nothing else apart from some oil to fry the leeks in and it is awesome. When I have time I add bacon, herbs, special EVOO and lashings of Parmesan. The Parmesan takes it from a simple soup to something truly special so don't miss it out.

2 cans of canned chickpeas (or do your own soaking of dried chickpeas)

2 medium leeks

1 tablespoon olive oil

knob of butter

2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

approx 500mls chicken or vegetable stock

Parmesan cheese, grated

EV olive oil

Slice up the leeks anyway you like. Use white bit only.

Heat up a large pan or saucepan, add the tablespoon of oil and the knob of butter. Add the leeks and garlic to the pan and sweat gently with a good pinch of salt for 10 mins (or less if you don't have much time). You want them to be softened. The longer you cook the leeks the more flavour it will have. Add the drained chickpeas and cook for 1 minute. Add the stock and simmer for 15 minutes (or if rushed for time, bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 mins).

If it is Summer, I like the soup to be all brothy and I add lots of italian parsely and any other fresh herb. If it is Winter and you want a hearty soup, use a stick blender to blend it into a thick soup.

Don't forget to add some yummy Parmesan shavings on the top.

Enjoy.