What is Zuppa di ceci, vedure al forno et pane tostato? Well, it means roasted vegetables cream soup and chickpeas with toasted bread. I guess I am learning Italian now.

I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green, next to me an elderly lady also waiting to cross the highway. She said to me, boungiorno. I said back to her. She was looking at my shopping bag. She asks what are you cooking?

I said I am making roasted vegetables cream soup with ceci con toast pane. She said no bad you can speak a few words. I said to her how to say roasted so she said its call Arrostito. I said no Arrosto. She said that is roast. How about vegetables? It’s verdura. Soup is zuppa but if you are making cream soup it’s call la minestra. So, I thank her. And we parted after we cross the highway. I said Addio!!! She replied ci vediamo.

Wow, I learn not only cooking but a few words of Italian too. Anyway, I am glad that I met Sofia. Should have asks her how to cook this soup. But too late. Never mind, I have my own creative idea.

In this soup I have roasted both red and green capsicums, and carrots. Then when it’s cool down completely, I blend them in batches with vegetables stock a little bit. Then I decided to add ceci, cherries tomatoes, chili which I bought as I love chilli spicy, and turmeric. Before serving I added chili flakes to mine. The others didn’t have chili flakes.

The soup is simple and straightforward. The texture is creamy, hearty, comfort, taste delicious and kicking my taste bud: spicy. I forgot to buy crouton and parsley to garnish so no green colour in my plate. So, I add toast bread in. Let’s cook!!!

Ingredients

1 large size green capsicums, cut into pieces
2 medium size red capsicums, cut into pieces
3 medium size carrots, cut into pieces
400 g chickpeas
8 cherries tomatoes, cut into pieces
4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red chili, stem remove, cut and deseeded
1 Tbs ginger powder
2 Tsp turmeric
1 1/2 L vegetables stock, bought, plus extra
6 toast bread
salt
black pepper
olive oil
chili flakes (OPT)

Method

Preheat oven 190 degrees C. Line tray with foil. Then place the vegetables pieces on tray and drizzle oil over it. Put in oven roast till cook about 20 minutes; carrots another 5 minutes. Meantime, cook chickpeas until softened.

Once it’s done, and cool down put in batches to the blender with tomatoes, and chili. Then blend till smooth. Next use a medium pot heat oil on medium heat for 1 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and turmeric, stirring constantly about 3 minutes.

Now add the pureed vegetables, ceci, stock, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

About the last 10 minutes, check ceci has soften a bit. If soften, scoops ceci out and cool in a bowl about 5 minutes before putting into blender to blend with extra stock. Then add back to the soup, stirring to make sure it combined well and soup is thick. Cook a further 10 minutes. Next toast bread in a toaster. Cut into pieces and set aside until needed.

To serve, ladle soup into white wide pasta bowl, line toasted bread in circle onto the soup. Then sprinkle some chili flakes in the centre. Enjoy with a glass of Pinot Noir.

Note: You can add potatoes, asparagus, celery, zucchini or any other vegetables of your choices. You can omit chili and chili flakes. You might want your soup a bit more liquid add in if you don’t want your soup to be thick like mine. You can add crouton, parsley or any green herbs for garnish. You can add in pasta, or sausages. You can use fresh vegetables to boil and make stock.

https://helenscchin.com/2020/01/30/zuppa-di-ceci-vedure-al-forno-et-pane-tostato/

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