Deliciously Simple: Simplest Leek and Chickpea Soup (with Sausage)

 

In our last post, we gave you an overview of a delicious healthy and hearty meal you could make with just a few ingredients. We'll continue that theme with today's recipe. While a soup may not be the first thing you think to make on a hot summer day, it's a good recipe to fall back on when it's raining outside or you don't want too much to clean up.

I make sure they have plenty to clean up as it is...

This recipe comes from Marcella Hazan's cookbook and is titled "Simplest Leek and Chickpea Soup." Simplest. That means that Marcella knows of no simpler soup. Well, this is likely the case because this soup is very simple, made up of merely leeks, chickpeas, and a few other ingredients. We added in some spicy turkey sausage because we had it on hand, but it's not entirely necessary. For the amount of time this takes and the number of ingredients involved, this is a great way to pack a lot of flavor into a minimal amount of money or effort.

Making the Soup
What You'll Need

1 15 oz can chickpeas
3 whole leeks
1/2 lb turkey sausage (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 cube beef bouillon
1/2 cup pecorino romano
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper

First thing you'll need to do is prep your leeks. Marcella advises us to first soak the leeks, which will help them to become soft and tender more quickly, as well as ensure there's no sand in them. So soak them whole for about 15 minutes, then slice them into thin slices and soak the slices for about 15 minutes longer.

Sliced leeks

While they're soaking, you can prep your sausage if you want to add it. Throw it into a non-stick pan over high heat and sear it, breaking it down into crumbles, and cook until nicely browned. Then remove from heat and let rest on a paper towel. You don't need to season it too much, maybe just a touch of pepper if you like the flavor.

Crispy browned sausage

Next, prep the chickpeas. Remove them from the can and drain and rinse them off thoroughly. Then, you'll do something somewhat peculiar - peel off the skin. We didn't even realize that chickpeas had skin, but in fact, they do. You can simply squeeze on one side of the chickpea and the skin should pull right off.

Peeling the skin off of a chickpea

Throw away the skin and put the chickpeas together into a measuring cup. This step will reduce the level of starchiness of your soup and intensify the chickpea flavor, so it's worth the slightly added effort.

Cooking the leeks

Now you're ready to go. Take the soaked leeks and pat them dry. Add them into a saucepan with olive oil over medium low heat, and saute for about 15 minutes until the leeks have softened and started to slightly caramelize.

Adding the peeled chickpeas to the leeks

Add the chickpeas to the leek mixture and mix around, and then add in water and a beef bouillon cube. Bring to a boil and stir until the beef bouillon has dissolved.

To finalize the soup, use an immersion blender and purée briefly, only enough to catch about 1/4 to 1/2 of the veggies - the idea is you want a slightly thicker broth but to still have chunks of the chickpeas and leeks in there for texture.

Puréeing briefly with an immersion blender

Finally, sprinkle in a generous amont of freshly ground pepper and about 1/2 cup of grated pecorino romano cheese. Stir together everything nicely and cook for a little longer for the flavors to incorporate. To finish, stir in the cooked sausage. Serve in a bowl drizzled with extra olive oil, pepper, and pecorino.

The Result

You can serve this with a nice crusty bread for dipping and you'll have yourself a satisfying, flavorful, and simply wonderful dish. It's got a nice bright flavor, with the peppery undertones giving it a little bite complemented by the creamy undertone from the pecorino.

All together this dish takes about 30 - 40 minutes to prepare and will easily make enough for lunch the next day  as well. So if you want something simple and delicious, this is a dish to try.

Have a favorite soup or super simple recipe? Let us know in the comments!

Click through for the full ingredients. 

Simplest Leek and Chickpea Soup

Written by: Marcella Hazan

A deliciously simple soup made up of very few ingredients

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 40 min

(Serves: 2 - 4)

1 15 oz can chickpeas
3 whole leeks
1/2 lb turkey sausage (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups water
1 cube beef bouillon
1/2 cup pecorino romano
2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper