Alice says: “Every cook needs a warming and hearty bean soup in their repertoire. This is the only one you need.

“This ultimate Tuscan-inspired soup has a slow-cooked base of sweet vegetables and garlic, borlotti beans and chickpeas, tomato, plenty of kale, bread to soak up the soup and fresh pesto to finish each bowl. As would be expected, the flavours and textures intensify and settle when the recipe is made ahead and reheated. Anoint each bowl with your best olive oil when eating.

“In developing the soup, trying to hit on the perfect texture, I decided to soak and long-simmer dried borlotti beans for the deepest flavour and to retain their shape. The chickpeas, however, need to break down a little to add body. Cooking them from scratch is quite a bit of work so you’ll see these are tinned. You could soak dried ones instead and simmer them separately, draining when tender and adding about 300g to the soup where the tinned are stirred in.

“A final note on vegetarian parmesan rinds: save these when you get to the end of a wedge of cheese and keep in the freezer. They add extra umami to simmering soups and risottos and are simply removed at the end of cooking once they’ve done their job.”

Serves 4 generously

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus overnight soaking

Cooking time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, trimmed and chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
400g tin of plum tomatoes
150g cavolo nero, trimmed and thickly shredded
100g dried borlotti beans, soaked in plenty of cool water for 8–12 hours
400g tin of chickpeas, drained
2 fresh or dried bay leaves
1 small vegetarian parmesan rind (optional)
a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, stalks finely sliced, leaves chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve:

4 thick slices of stale sourdough or ciabatta bread
4 tbsp any fresh, ready-made pesto
the best extra virgin olive oil you have

Method

Put 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, sturdy, heatproof casserole (Dutch oven) or saucepan and place over a low heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, for about 7 minutes until it begins to soften. Add the chopped carrots, celery and leeks along with half the garlic and the chilli flakes and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

Add the plum tomatoes and cavolo nero and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring frequently until the vegetables are soft and sweet and the tomatoes have begun to break down.

Add the drained, soaked borlotti beans, the tinned chickpeas, bay leaves and parmesan rind (if using). Now pour in enough water to just cover the vegetables and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat so that the soup putters very gently for 1 hour 30 minutes–2 hours until the beans are completely soft.

Remove about a quarter of the soup mixture and mash or blend until smooth-ish. Return it to the pan to thicken the soup.

In a separate, small pan, warm the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over a low heat and sauté the remaining garlic, along with the parsley stalks and leaves, for a couple of minutes until fragrant. Tip into the soup pan and stir in well. Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool. Cover the pan and leave in the fridge for 12–24 hours for the flavours to develop.

When ready to eat, warm the uncovered soup through thoroughly over a low heat, stirring now and then. Add a little water if it seems too thick (remember this isn’t a dainty soup) and season to taste. Sit a slice of bread in the bottom of each soup bowl and ladle the soup over. Finish with a spoonful of pesto and a drizzle of your best extra virgin olive oil.

Repertoire: 3 hearty (and veggie-friendly) soup recipes to warm you up on cold days