Courgette Butter Bean and Ham Soup

This is one of those gorgeous little dishes that I ended up cooking on one of those days that you feel the urge to cook but you’re not sure what.

Butter Beans have become a store cupboard favourite in our house as they are a wonderful addition to soups and stews and the boy’s love to take them to school in a very healthy Butter Bean Salad. They are both filling and extremely nutritional.

This Soup combines the wonderful salty smokiness of Gubbeen Pancetta with the delicate flavour of Courgette all brought together with the creaminess of the Butter Beans making for a very luxurious and tasty soup. Perfect for a weekday lunch or for serving when you have friends around for dinner.

I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Onion, diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped
5/6 slices of Proscuitto ( I used Gubbeen Smokehouse ) or Parma Ham, chopped
1 Courgette, finely Sliced
1 tin of Chickpeas, drained
500 ml of Chicken Stock
Salt and Pepper
2 tbsp of oil

Directions:

Heat almost all of the oil on a medium heat and add you onions, garlic & courgette. Give a good stir and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down and cover the saucepan yo let the vegetables sweat for between 5 & 10 minutes, until they are nicely golden and soft. Stir occasionally to make sure they don’t stick.
Remove the vegetables from the saucepan and place on a plate. Add the remaining piece of oil and sautée the ham until golden and a little crisp.
Return the vegetables to the pan and give a good stir through with the ham. Pour in your hot chicken stock and bring to the boil. Once you have it at a boil turn it down and let it simmer for around 5 minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste.
Blitz with a soup gun or in a liquidizer.
Pour into warm soup bowls and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and some chives.N.B *If your Proscuitto is quiet salty then go easy of the seasoning…make sure you always taste before you serve*