- 400g tin of butter beans
- 2 garlic cloves
- A handful of flat leaf parsley
- 2 carrots
- 1 lemon
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 red onion
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 800ml boiling water
- 1.
Peel and thinly slice the onion. Peel the carrots and chop them into small cubes. Finely slice the celery sticks. Peel and crush one garlic glove.
- 2.
Heat a pan for 1 min. When warm, drizzle in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the chopped veg. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on a low heat for 15 mins, stirring now and then.
- 3.
Crumble in the stock cube and pour in 800ml boiling water. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the pan. Pop on a lid and simmer for 5 mins.
- 4.
Peel the remaining garlic clove and pop it into a mortar or sturdy bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mash to a smooth paste with either a pestle or the bottom of a jam jar.
- 5.
Roughly chop the parsley leaves then add them to the mortar or bowl. Zest the lemon and juice half of it. Add the zest and juice to the to the garlic and parsley. Bash together to make a pesto.
- 6.
Add two ladlefuls of the soup to a blender and give a quick whizz – or add to a bowl and blitz with a hand-held blender. Pour the blended soup back into the pan.
- 7.
Stir to mix the smooth and chunky soups. Taste and season as needed. Ladle the soup into a couple of bowls and top with the pesto to serve.