Good Fast Food - Fennel, courgette and butterbean soup
Monday, February 16th 2009 @ 5:51 PM
I've not being doing so brilliantly lately with some of my food choices. It's the same old thing... short term, 'quick fix' thinking. What do I mean by that? Well, a typical scenario goes like this:
I have several deadlines and the clock's ticking away, so I don't stop to eat when I should - sometimes, I don't even notice the time, so deep is my focus. As a result, by the time I do stop, my blood sugar levels have dropped so much that I want something instant.
Lucy-Ann will gently chastise me for saying it like this, but pizza has been my usual 'guilty secret' at times like this.
Last week however, I felt so in need of 'real' food, that I made much better choices and created a delicious green soup which was both as quick and easy as slinging a pizza in the oven. Here's the recipe for:
Fennel, courgette and butterbean soup.
- 1 bulb of fennel
- 1 large courgette
- 1 leek
- 1 can of butterbeans (no salt or sugar added)
- 2 x Marigold stock cubes
- A small sprinkling of fennel seed
- A generous sprinkling of dried tarragon.
- A drop of cold-pressed olive oil
- Water - just boiled and in the right proportion for 2 stock cubes
First I roughly chopped the veg, then placed them in a colander and gave them all a good wash.
Next, into a pan, I poured the teeniest amount of olive oil and added the fennel seed and some of the tarragon. After a few seconds of sizzling the herbs, in went all the veg which were still dripping with water - and steamed/fried them off for no longer than 2 minutes.
I then added the stock cubes, water, rest of the tarragon and the butterbeans (rinsed), popped the lid on the pan and left it simmering the veg for about 5 minutes.
Next, I whipped out my favourite kitchen tool - my handblender - and blended the contents still in the pan.
Another few minutes and the soup was ready to go! Utterly satisfying and delicious - even if I say so myself!
Total time taken... no longer than 15 minutes total. Now that's what I call good fast food!! 
