legume

scrumptious spanish chickpea and chorizo soup

servings
4

method

I first tasted this soup when I was in Barcelona. It may not look like the prettiest dish – it actually looks quite frumpy – but the flavors are amazing. The smoky spicy chorizo and Spanish ham are lovely with the creamy texture of the chickpeas and spinach. Definitely give this a go. You will always get good results with this soup, but you'll come up with something really special if you can get hold of the best quality chickpeas, chorizo and ham. There's a little bit of chopping to do in this recipe, but you can use a food processor if you don't have much time.

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a large pot and add the chorizo. Allow to heat up and cook for a couple of minutes until the fat comes out of the chorizo, then add your onion, garlic and celery. Turn the heat down and cook slowly for 15 minutes with a lid on and without coloring the onions. Now take the lid off – the smell and color will be fantastic. Stir it around and get some color happening now. Add your spinach, tomatoes, chickpeas and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for around 40 minutes.

At this point you can remove about a third of the mixture and purée it in a food processor. Pour it back into the pot, give it a good stir and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the pata negra or ham and 2 or 3 tablespoons of good Spanish extra virgin olive oil. Divide into bowls and grate some hard-boiled egg on top. The egg was a bit unexpected when I was given this in Barcelona, but it actually adds a lovely richness to it.

• from Jamie's Dinners

ingredients

• olive oil
• 150g chorizo sausage, finely chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 500g fresh spinach, washed and chopped
• 8 fresh tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 x 410g tin or jar of good-quality cooked chickpeas, drained
• 1.3 liters chicken stock
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 55g pata negra, Spanish ham or prosciutto, finely chopped
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 hard-boiled eggs

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Pippin01234 on Fri 09 Mar 2012 @ 14:22

Plz can someone tell me how long it takes to make and to prepare! I'm currently learning about soup in my food lessons and I need to make my own. It has to be quick and simple and I only have one chance plz leave a comment for me plz say "to pippin01234...." Thanks guys. YOU ROCK!!

2. by Paivi_P on Sat 04 Feb 2012 @ 20:10

Awww this is delicious! Well it does look like dog food but never mind, just add the egg and shovel it in, the flavors are amazing!!

3. by Dana on Sat 21 Jan 2012 @ 20:53

Wow, just made this for Saturday lunch and it is fantastic! I could not find a really good chorizo in my town today, so I used a chicken chorizo type sausage. Do to the lack of tasty chorizo I also added 1/2tsp of smoked paprika.

4. by realpaprika on Fri 20 Jan 2012 @ 18:59

I cook this soup (in Spain we call potaje) without any chorizo or jamon. I add two coffee spoons of a good Spanish sweet paprika. What's more you don't need the chiken stock. Instead, add the same quantity of water and when finish the potaje (one minute before put a table spoon of vinegar). It's better to make the soup the day before eating. It will be more tasty.

5. by kitchenvoyage.blogspot on Fri 20 Jan 2012 @ 18:12

Thank you Jaime, almost like my mum soup. Chickpeas are a value protein source. Even chickpeas are a very Moorish dish in Spain the tradition to cook with chickpeas still very strong not like in another European countries that years ago considered the chickpea like a meal for the "poors". Chickpeas are in one of the iconic Spanish dish, the Spanish Stew "cocido"

6. by JackieJames on Wed 12 Oct 2011 @ 19:31

Just made this soup and waiting for the hubby to get home so we can tuck in! Been tasting along the way and the flavor is phenomenal but like 'ken tan' mine has no color or as much thickness in the photo!? Too much stock or too much blending, although it was watery before blending!!!!!!!!

7. by Lyndsey on Tue 30 Aug 2011 @ 20:20

Was really Yummy. Only had half the amount of spinach so was a bit watery but that was fine because it is really filling and the 'watery' bit actually tasted really really nice. Made the house smell SO GOOD

8. by Soph on Mon 15 Aug 2011 @ 11:03

This soup is frikking delicious, I add a rather healthy sized glass of sweet sherry to it aswell, and on day 1 its great, day 2 its sexy and by the third day of the flavors all deepening its downright bowl-lickable. Thumbs up from me and the ex hubby.

9. by ken tan on Fri 29 Jul 2011 @ 09:35

this is soup. very nice tasty! very strong flavour! but no colour! it is dark green! blend too much???

10. by Arran thomas on Sun 08 May 2011 @ 11:10

Gonna give it a whirl this afternoon J

11. by Jenski on Wed 04 May 2011 @ 13:38

I just made this soup - I'd almost say that it was a bit too salty with the Chorizo and the procuitto. I think I'd only put in the chorizo next time! The egg really did make it taste that little bit cool!

12. by Joao on Mon 13 Dec 2010 @ 22:21

Fantastic!!!

13. by Gaz on Sun 12 Dec 2010 @ 20:31

Loved it! Made it for a main tonight with a dollop of marscapone and loadsa black pepper, top dollar.

14. by quirine on Thu 09 Dec 2010 @ 13:31

I've added some cumin, rosemary and chili to it, to make it a bit more spicy.
I always use half of the spinach and add some more eggs as well!
Hope you enjoy this lovely Jamie recepe with an extra touch.
cheers!

15. by sergi on Mon 25 Jan 2010 @ 14:50

Don't waste your money on Pata Negra ham for this as the taste of the Chorizo is going to kill its subtlety!! - some ordinary Serrano / Jamon del Pais will do fine. Save your pata negra to have as a nice tapa first with some bread rubbed with tomato and oil.

16. by Peter on Thu 21 Jan 2010 @ 01:56

The house smells fantastic.

17. by danitus on Thu 17 Dec 2009 @ 05:45

thank you for the recipe.
It turn out to be very tasty. although I did make same changes. I put twice as much of chorizo, 1 1/2 cloves of garlic, 1 big can of dice tomatoes (986ml), 3 stick of celery, I didn't need to add salt and paper and I add 3 eggs at the end.
You were right Jamie," it actually adds a lovely richness to it".

18. by meg on Thu 08 Oct 2009 @ 18:23

i must have very different taste buds from everyone else as i thought this soup was awful. when it was made i thought there must have been a misprint with the amount of spinach as it did seem to be an awful lot, but obviously just my pallete as everyone else seem to think it's great. no worries better luck with the next recipe

19. by rosie jo on Tue 29 Sep 2009 @ 13:14

i made this soup last nite for dinner it was so good, i did chicken out of putting the egg
on top, but next time i will try it. also no need for bread its tres filling

20. by Sonja on Tue 07 Jul 2009 @ 10:32

I'm not big on soup, but this one is realy very tasty!

21. by BH on Fri 15 May 2009 @ 16:21

Just made this soup on the off chance... and Its amazing! My boyfriend cant get enough of it. Thank you!

22. by Rahul Mark on Tue 13 Jan 2009 @ 08:54

its a great soup for the indian palet, i tried this an it rocks, Thanks Bud

23. by gerbillina on Mon 12 Jan 2009 @ 09:02

Perfect soup for winter - rich and tasty. I think I include it into my menu for good!

24. by AM on Sun 11 Jan 2009 @ 17:55

We've recently moved to Spain and I was after a good Spanish receipe so when I found this I had to try it! It was gorgeous, my husband wont stop saying how nice it is!!! Will definatley do it again!

Thank you so much!

25. by dpelton on Mon 05 Jan 2009 @ 20:14

I make soup EVERY Sunday to eat on Monday. This looks like a good one and a little different from those I already make. keep up the best of work. Deb

26. by katrina404 on Mon 05 Jan 2009 @ 18:01

its very testy

27. by nelda on Sun 04 Jan 2009 @ 01:04

Did you use Spanish Chorizo or Mexican? Want to really try this but the two are quite different - I live in Mexico but chorizo from Spain is available.

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