19 April 2005: Leek and chickpea soup

My image of myself as a competent cook has taken a bit of a battering recently. I haven't cooked anything particularly abysmal; I just haven't really been properly cooking. There have been lots of dinners of pasta with jars of premade sauce - tasty organic sauce, but premade all the same. It doesn't really feed the heart.

There are lots of reasons for my slackness. I didn't unpack my cookbooks until a couple of weeks ago; I'm still working out a schedule at uni; but most importantly, the Tesco I pass on my way home each day has one of the most depressing selections of fresh produce I've ever had to rely on. It got to the stage that I found myself thinking as I approached it, They'll have decent peppers as always, but I can't face peppers for dinner yet again tonight, and if I have to seriously contemplate buying those wrinkly courgettes I am really going to top myself... and walking right on past, on the way to making another dinner of spaghetti with jar sauce.

This weekend it all came to a head with me lying on the carpet at home whimpering about not being able to think of anything to cook that didn't require flat-leaf parsley, which I couldn't get anywhere (except the Temple Bar market and I was way too busy having a meltdown to walk there before it closed for the day). Fortunately Ted, with his years of experience in Meg-wrangling, managed to jimmy me off the floor and into the car and thus to Superquinns at Blackrock, where we found, hallelujah, flat leaf parsley and various other good things.

There has subsequently been a festival of cooking involving flat-leaf parsley, all to be blogged. First up: leek, chickpea and saffron (and FLP) soup, eaten with a toasted sandwich of tallegio and a nutty but mild danish cheese whose name I have forgotten. Perfect lunch on a wet, cold and windy Sunday.

olive oil

4 leeks, cleaned and chopped

1 carrot, very finely chopped

a pinch of saffron threads

4 wide strips of lemon zest, removed from a lemon with a potato peeler

3 - 4 cups stock

250 g cooked chickpeas

a large handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the leeks, carrot and saffron and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the leeks are tender and translucent.

Add the strips of lemon zest, the stock and the chickpeas, bring to a simmer, then cook gently for about 10 minutes. Add the parsley and cook 5 minutes more. Season well with sea salt and black pepper.

Serves 4 for lunch, with bread.

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