Tuscan Bean Soup

9:17am Friday 4th January 2008

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Christmas and all that cooking may be over, but the meals go on and a new year is a good time to introduce a few fresh dishes into your weekly repertoire.

These should be simple, cheap and take the minimum amount of time, especially as most of us are flagging gastronomically after the seasonal food fest.

Lulu Grimes, editor of Olive magazine's 101 Smart Suppers, said: "There's no reason why supper shouldn't be an exciting meal every day, achievable in 30 minutes or less and without the bother of chasing hard-to-find ingredients."

Grimes' Tuscan bean soup is one of the magazine recipes she has grouped in easy-to-use sections, such as poultry, fish, seafood, vegetarian and puddings.

WHAT DO I NEED?Serves fourCooking time: 30 minutesolive oil4 shallots, chopped2 cloves garlic, crushed200g pancetta, chopped2 sticks celery, diced2 potatoes, peeled and diced1 tin (about 425g) borlotti or haricot beans, rinsed and drainedchicken stock, fresh, cube or powder, made up to one litre1 bay leaf1tsp fresh oregano, choppeda handful flat-leaf parsley, choppedextra-virgin olive oil to serveWHAT SHOULD I DO?Heat two tablespoonfuls of olive oil in a large saucepan, add the shallots, garlic, pancetta, celery and potatoes and fry for five minutes.

Add the beans, stock, bay leaf and oregano, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Season and add the parsley and serve drizzled with a little extra-virgin olive oil and warm crusty bread.