With its crispy freshness, the beginning of October is a slow and fluid passage into the autumn. Long are gone the golden grain fields before harvest, the first trees wave goodbye to their leaves, which burst into flamboyant shades of yellow, orange and red.
This soup is a celebration of the late summer’s crops, where meaty aubergine meets sun soaked tomatoes, bathed alongside nutty hints of roasted garlic. This time of year feels often as a new beginning to me and I embrace it to the fullest. This year we are spending it in Mauritius, where opposite happens – the summer slowly crawls in with its plentiful produce. It makes me close my eyes and take a glance at my garden back home, ready for weeding it in order to prepare it for the colds of the winter. Tasting this soup brings me back to the bountiful and opulent summer times. All the more I crave this mélange of vegetables, where peppery zucchini, with its grassy undertones, melts into sweet red peppers, crowned with crispy beans.
Roasted vegetable soup with crispy white beans
Course: LunchCuisine: Swiss, Polish, ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
servings20
minutes1
hourA bowl of this silky soup will bring you back to the peak of summer.
Ingredients
- For the roasted vegetables
1 medium green zucchini, cut into 5cm chunks
1 medium yellow zucchini, cut into 5cm chunks
1 medium aubergine, cut into 5cm chunks
5 tomatoes (around 700g), quartered
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 red pepper, quartered
1 yellow pepper, quartered
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
- For the crispy beans
200g cooked white beans, rinsed and pat dry
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sweet paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
- For the soup
1.5l vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp spicy paprika
1/2 ground ginger
1/4 tsp dried marjoram
4 tbsp tahini paste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (180 degrees C fan).
- Spread the vegetables evenly on two baking trays covered with parchment paper, mix with 4 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Using another baking tray, spread the beans in one layer, add olive oil, sweet paprika, salt and pepper and mix together.
- Bake both the vegetables and beans in the oven for 10 minutes, the baking try with beans should be above the vegetables.
- Remove the beans from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Roast the vegetables for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure they get evenly roasted.
- In the meantime, bring a pot filled with the broth to the boil.
- Add the roasted vegetables (peel the garlic first).
- Season with dried basil, parsley, spicy paprika, ground ginger and dried marjoram and let it cook for 10-15 minutes.
- Using a hand blender, purée the soup until it is smooth.
- Stir in the tahini and salt and pepper to your liking.
- Garnish with crispy white beans, seeds mixture and edible flowers before serving.
Notes
- You can use the canned beans, but before roasting them, make sure that you wash, drain and pat them dry.
- If you prefer your vegetables to be crispy, you should use at least one more baking tray or roast them in batches. In addition, adjust the roasting time to 30 minutes.
- I roast the beans on a smaller baking tray which I do not put the parchment paper on, but if you prefer you can always use the parchment paper.
- Avoid overcrowding the beans on the tray or else they will not become crispy.
- If after 10 minutes the beans are not crispy enough, you can add another 5 minutes to their roasting time. Just beware of roasting them for too long as they will dry out too much and lose their shape.
- Depending on the tomatoes, you may need to add a dash of sugar to the soup to balance out the sourness.
