Green bean and red tomato soup

Yet again I've nicked someone else's recipe idea, made it wrong (and into a vegan recipe) and liked the result so much I've decided to publish it on my blog. This time, in a major break with my usual M.O., it's a soup that doesn't need liquidising! Anyhow, it was rather lovely, but took me ages to make because gathering vegetables from the garden is so time consuming, especially if you're being good about digging carrots up with a fork instead of just yanking and hoping, and also composting your leaves, ends and peelings. So here we go:

Green bean and red tomato soup

(Serves about 5 or 6 in the large, lunch-sized portion sizes I use and gives you over 200g = over 2.5 of your 5 a day)

3 tbsp olive oil (I recommend one with a strong olive flavour)

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped (frozen is fine, about 200 g)

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed (or one block of frozen garlic)
3 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped (around 250 g)
Optionally: some shucked runner beans - I reckon I added about 15
500 ml boiling water
1 vegetable stock cube (alternatively: 500 ml of stock)
350 g fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used runner beans and purple beans)
450 g tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp basil, chopped (frozen is fine)
1 tbsp parsley, chopped (frozen is fine)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the olive oil to a large pan and heat on a low heat.
2. Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the pan, stirring occasionally.
3. Peel and finely chop the garlic and add to the pan, stirring occasionally.
4. Peel and finely chop the carrots and add to the pan, stirring occasionally.

5. Shuck any runner beans you want to add the shucked beans to the soup and add to the pan. (Some beans are too old, large and stringy to eat as green beans. You can shuck these = remove their shells/pods. But I find it often takes me a long time because they're hard to get out.)

6. Top and tail your beans and cut them into approx 2-3 cm lengths and add to the pan.
6. Boil 500 ml of water and add it to the pan.
7. Add the stock cube and stir (ideally until dissolved).
8. Simmer with the lid on for 15 minutes. While you are doing this, move on to the next step.

9. Dice the tomatoes and chop the basil and parsley. Once the 15 minutes of simmering from the previous step is up, add these to the pan. Simmer for a further 3-5 minutes.

10. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir.

That's it, you're done. This soup doesn't need liquidising! Enjoy with bread, rolls or anything else you like to eat with soup.