Tomato Chickpea Soup with Rosemary

(Don’t worry, this time I actually used rosemary!) 🙂

Sometimes all I want is a nice, big bowl of soup. Something fresh and light yet filling enough for a meal. My belly screams for something simple and nourishing.

Enter this delightful soup adapted from Orangette. It is a tomato soup at its core, light-tasting with the sprinkle of sugar mellowing the acid from the tomatoes. I used less vegetable broth than Molly, but it was the right consistency for me (even still a bit thin for me). The rosemary adds an interesting twist, but is not an overpowering flavour. And then you add in chickpeas, which is why this is such a deceivingly hearty soup. Half are pureed, creating bulk for the soup. The other half are left intact for mouth feel. Delicious.

Sometimes simple is all you need.

This is my submission to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays.

Tomato Chickpea Soup with Rosemary

3 cups cooked chickpeas (around 2 15-ounce cans, rinsed)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 3-inch sprigs fresh rosemary, needles removed from stem and finely chopped (dried rosemary would be fine, too – 1 tsp or so)
2 cans tomatoes (whole, diced, or crushed, with juice), one 28-ounce and one 14.5-ounce
A pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2.5 cups vegetable broth

1. Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-low heat, and add the garlic and rosemary. Cook for a minute or two, and then add the tomatoes, sugar, salt, a few grinds of pepper, roughly half of the chickpeas, and the stock. Bring to a boil over high heat; then reduce the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

2. Remove the soup from the heat to purée. If using an immersion blender, purée the soup directly in the pot. Otherwise, wait a few minutes, until the soup cools; then purée it in batches in a blender or food processor and return it to the pot. Add the remaining chickpeas, and warm the soup over medium heat. Serve warm.

Serves 6.