A simple soup

If you're anything like me, you overindulged over the last couple of weeks. At work, chocolates were handed out every day. Four end of year parties, most involving fried food of some kind. One night, I shame-ate an entire large pizza, a bag of chips and drank a cider, beer and red wine. One sitting. The bathroom scales scare the bejesus out of me right now.


The next few weeks are going to be an exercise in restraint. Mostly food from the ground or from a tree. A little lean meat. There's still the ham to get through, but I think I can make that work. There will be a couple of hurdles (NYE, Matt's birthday) - we'll see how I go when I reach them.

This soup took around 15 minutes to make. Chop the vegetables, a quick saute with the ham, add the water or stock, then the beans and leave it to simmer for 10 minutes. Even though it's summer here in Melbourne the day was not terribly warm, so the soup worked well.

I gave it a small grating of grana padano on serving (I'm not dead yet).

Ingredients

1/2 peeled carrot
1/2 red capsicum
1 clove garlic
2 thick slices of ham
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 cups of water
400g can of butter beans, rinsed and drained
3 sprigs of thyme

Chop the carrots, capsicum, ham and garlic. Saute in the olive oil until the ham takes on some colour. Add the water, beans and thyme. Season, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with a small grating of grana padano if desired.