Chickpea and Spinach Soup with Garlic

Ah vacation. How I have loved you!  It has been a wonderful week, and I am studiously trying to forget that I have one day left before it's back to the grind.  I've had time to go out to eat, hang out with my Marky, cook and bake to my heart's content, and book our wedding  at Gibbet Hill!!  Wahoo!  7/25/14, which by the way is only 516 days away :) 

One day this week, my lovely fiance showed up with a present for me.  He proudly handed me The Soup Bible.  Knowing how much I love soups, it was a great gift!  I immediately looked through the whole thing.  There are tons of vegetarian soups, and right away I went to the cabinet to see what ingredients I had because I wanted to try out a recipe.  I was intrigued by a chickpea and spinach soup with garlic.  I know that in itself doesn't sound that intriguing, but it has tahini in it!  In case you haven't figured it out by now, I get really excited when recipes call for tahini.  I love putting it in hummus, even cookies.  So I figured, tahini in soup was going to be an excellent thing. Plus it had cumin and coriander, and potatoes and spinach,  all of which I love.

The soup was pretty easy  to put together, and quick, too.  Lots of vegetable chopping, but nothing crazy.  Then it really only has to simmer for about 20 minutes total, and you're good to go.  There is 2/3 cup of cream added in the end, which unforunately made my whole family act like they are suddenly health freaks who refused to try it.  But Mark and I ate it, and we thought it was very good.  I love any soup with potatoes in it, and you could taste a nice subtle hint of the tahini.  I did change the chickpeas to cannellini beans, only because my family hates chickpeas (of course, since no one ate it anyway, it didn't matter!).  I think if I made the soup again, I would leave out the cream, just so my picky mother and sister would eat it.  But I thought it was very good!

Recipe:

chickoea and spinach soup with garlic
from The Soup Bible, edited by Debra Mayhew
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 1/4 vegetable stock
2 1/2 cups finely chopped potatoes
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons tahini
3 1/2 cup shredded spinach
cayenne pepper (I left this out)
salt and freshly ground pepper

Ingredients:

1) Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the garlic and onion and fry for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and golden brown.

2) Stir in the ground cumin and coriander and cook for 1 minutes  Add the stock and potatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

3) Add the chickpeas and simmer for 5 minutes longer or until the potatoes are just tender.

4) Blend together the cornstarch, cream, tahini, and plenty of salt and pepper.  Stir into the soup with the spinach, and bring to a boil, stirring.  Lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.  Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste.  Serve sprinkled with a little extra cayenne pepper.