Creamy Chickpea Farro Soup Food

CREAMY CHICKPEA & FARRO SOUP

Steps:

• In a large soup pot, heat the oil and then add the pancetta, carrots, onion, celery and garlic.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender and the pancetta pieces are lightly browned, about 8 minutes
• Add the chickpeas to the pot with the vegetables and cover everything with broth by at least 1 inch.
• Season with salt and pepper, oregano, and rosemary.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and slowly simmer for another 15 minutes or so to develop and meld the flavors.
• Remove half the bean and vegetable mixture, and puree until smooth in a food processor, then return to the pot.
• Add the farro to the pot, and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the farro is just about tender to the bite. If the soup gets too thick, add additional broth to thin as needed.
• Taste, and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
• Serve in individual bowls topped with some cracked black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
• Sprinkle top of soup with the crispy pancetta bits if using and serve.

CREAMY FARRO AND CHICKPEA SOUP

Steps:

• Drain chickpeas, and place in a medium earthenware pan or saucepan. Cover with plenty of cold water, and bring to a boil. Add sea salt and bay leaves. Reduce heat, and cook, covered, until very soft, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat olive oil and gently cook onion, prosciutto and celery for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are soft but not brown. Drain farro, and add it along with the chicken broth, marjoram and nutmeg to the onion mixture. Cook, partially covered, for about 1 hour.
• Drain chickpeas, reserving the cooking liquid. Discard bay leaves. In a food processor, puree chickpeas with 1 cup of the reserved liquid. Add pureed chickpeas to the farro mixture; if necessary, add more of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas to achieve the consistency of a creamy soup. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Wait 10 minutes before serving, and sprinkle each portion with chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

CREAMY CHICKPEA SOUP

Steps:

• Heat oil over medium heat in large saucepan and garlic and cook until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. (Do not let the garlic brown.).
• Add chickpeas and their liquid and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.
• Add lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
• Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
• Return puree to saucepan and add 1 cup or more water to thin to desired consistency.
• Ledle soup into bowls and stir a little chutney into each. I like it best if the chutney is not stirred in uniformly, but just swirled in, so different spoonfuls have a different taste.

CREAMY CHICKPEA SOUP

Steps:

• Combine the sesame seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a nonstick skillet and cook over low heat until fragrant; grind to a powder in a spice grinder and add a pinch of salt; set aside.
• If necessary, make the chickpea flour by grinding dried chickpeas in a blender; combine the flour with the broth and beat smooth with an electric mixer.
• Transfer the soup to a saucepan and add 1 T olive oil, salt, white pepper and black pepper; bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, 10 minutes; add water to thin as needed.
• Ladle the soup into shallow soup plates, drizzle with remaining 1 T olive oil and sprinkle with reserved spice mix, to taste.