Chickpea Soup with Potatoes, Rainbow Chard & Other Vegetables

Monday I shared with you a recipe for cheesy scones. While they were amazing, Melissa and I needed something else to round up our cooking lunch date and decided to also make soup.

The starting point for the soup was a can of chickpeas. Then we picked up other vegetables, added a few pantry ingredients, and ended up with Chickpea Soup with Potatoes, Rainbow Chard & Other Vegetables.

This soup, like most of my recipes, is incredibly versatile. If you use vegetarian broth, you'll have a completely vegetarian dish.

If  you can't find Rainbow Chard, use Swiss Chard, spinach or kale. Feel free to add zucchini or peppers, and use any kind of beans you like.

Melissa, who ♥s chickpeas, thought the soup could benefit from two cans of chickpeas instead of one. You be the judge!

Chickpea Soup with Potatoes, Rainbow Chard & Other Vegetables

Ingredients
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled and chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons smoked paprika {Smoked paprika was Melissa's idea: and what a brilliant idea it was! It added depth the soup otherwise would have missed.}
2 teaspoons tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
4 medium potatoes, cubed {we used potatoes with really thin skin, so there was no need to peel them}
14.5 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes
19 ounce can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 large bunch of Rainbow Chard, cut into ribbons

To serve: sour cream and cheesy scones

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and carrots and saute until they are tender. Add smoked paprika and tomato paste and cook for about five minutes. You want the flavors of the smoked paprika and tomato sauce to marry with sauteed onions and carrots.
2. Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, cook potatoes in chicken stock and water until the potatoes are almost fork-tender.
3. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, Rainbow Chard and onion/carrot mixture to the soup and cook just until the chard wilts.
4. Serve in soup bowls topped with sour cream and a few cheesy scones on the side.

The soup was filling, colorful, so very good for you, and has held up as leftovers for four days now!

Also, check out my new dishes from World Market: they are non-reflective, which makes them great for food photographs. I bought two soup bowls and two plates. How did I find out about them? Pinterest, of course.