Instructions: Salt and fleshly ground black pepper 850ml chicken or vegetable stock (qv chicken stock qv vegetable stock) parmesan cheese grated extra virgin olive oil

Rinse the soaked chickpeas cover with water and cook with the potato (qv how to cook pulses) until tender.

Remove the outer skin of the leeks slice lengthways from the root up wash carefully and slice finely.

Warm a thick bottomed pan and add the tablespoon of oil and the knob of butter.

Add the leeks and garlic to the pan and sweat gently with a good pinch of salt until tender and sweet.

Add the drained chickpeas and potato and cook for 1 minute.

Add about twothirds of the stock and simmer for 15 minutes.

Now decide if you want to puree the soup in some sort of processor or leave it chunky and brothy or do what I do which is puree half and leave the other half whole this gives a lovely smooth comforting feel but also keeps a bit of texture.

Now add enough of the remaining stock to achieve the consistency you like.

Check for seasoning and add parmesan to taste to round off the flavours.

This is classy enough for a starter but I Like it best for lunch in a big bowl with a good drizzle of my best peppery extra virgin olive oil a grinding of black pepper and an extra sprinkling of Parmesan. The chickpeas go really creamy and moreish and the leeks go silky and sweet. These are just two simple flavours and even though Im a bit of afresh herbs boy this lovely light soup is very tasty.

Serves 6

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