Dinner for One: Creamy Garbanzo Soup and Tomato Bruschetta

I knew that I would be spending the evening alone, while Z. slaved away at work until late tonight. Normally, on nights like this I take out a can of free (thank you coupons) soup and heat that up. Well, those are all gone. Why am I eating canned soup? Laziness and I had them; I know the soup we make ourselves is way better. I wanted something creamy and smooth that wouldn't take forever to prepare. I started by looking for inspiration in Best-Ever 400 Budget Recipes. I found it in their Bacon Chickpea Soup recipe. I modified it to work with what was in my pantry and my goodness, am I glad I found this recipe. I'm sure I have already professed my love for garbanzos before, let me refresh your memory. I love beans! And I love garbanzo beans! I've seen several versions of soup that I am dying to try that centers around garbanzos but none of them threw the soup into the blender. I was concerned that this would turn into warm, thin hummus. Warm hummus is great, take a look at this recipe but I didn't want to drink it. Trust me, this didn't taste like hummus, this was delicious, creamy soup (without any cream!).

To go along with my soup, I made tomato bruschetta since roma tomatoes are on sale in my part of the world for $1.00 per pound. My recipe calls for 2 teaspoons or less of balsamic, depending on your taste. Being a vinegar-holic, I may or may not have added extra so I could drizzle a little extra on my bread. I took the step to peel my tomatoes. I figured that they needed a little extra care and attention since it is January, definitely not tomato season. Also, peeling the tomatoes meant I could play with my food longer. I love fresh basil. I think it is absolutely delicious. Why, yes, it is impossible for me to talk about food without using superlatives. I have never purchased fresh basil. I did happen to have a bunch of fresh parsley in the fridge. I really enjoyed the parsley in the bruschetta. I will be doing that again.

Creamy garbanzo soup ingredients

Waiting to be blended

Creamy garbanzo soup waiting to be reheated. Yum!

Toasting cumin seeds

Finished soup

Creamy Garbanzo Soup (serves 2)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14 oz.) vegetable broth
3 cloves garlic, finely diced or grated
1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
salt and pepper
water

Garnish
2 teaspoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed 

1. Heat some olive oil in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add carrots and onion with a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, add garlic, and saute for another five minutes, or until vegetables are beginning to soften. 
2. Add drained and rinsed garbanzo beans, vegetable broth, turmeric, and bay leaf. Raise heat to medium, bring to a boil, and lower to a simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. 
3. Take off the heat and cool.
4. Using an immersion blender or blender, blend until smooth.
5. Return to pan, turn on heat to med-low, and gently reheat. Add additional water to reach desired consistency. I needed to add about 1 cup. Taste soup. Adjust salt and pepper.
6. For garnish, heat oil in a small pan, add cumin seeds, and fry about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Drizzle over soup.

Fresh ingredients for tomato bruschetta

Finished tomato bruschetta

Tomato Bruschetta
Bread
about 1 pound roma tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling bread
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (optional)

1/4 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper (or in my case, chili flakes)

1. To peel tomatoes: Slice an X on the bottom of the tomato (not the end that was attached to the plant). Bring a pot of water to a boil, remove from heat, drop in tomatoes for 60 seconds, remove from water, and immediately rinse with cold water. Use fingers or paring knife to peel skin.
2. Slice tomatoes in half, scoop out seeds, cut out stem portion. Dice tomatoes and place in a bowl.
3. Mince garlic or use a grater or micro-plane. Add to tomatoes.
4. Add parsley.
5. Mix tomatoes, garlic, and parsley with olive oil, vinegar, plenty of salt, and black pepper (or chili flakes).
6. To toast bread: Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice bread, drizzle olive oil on one side, place bread olive oil side down on a baking sheet, and bake 5-7 minutes. Don't forget the bread!
7. Spoon some of the tomato mixture onto the toasted bread. Enjoy!

Price Breakdown: Creamy Garbanzo Soup
.14 olive oil
.58 garbanzo beans
.50 vegetable broth 
.10 garlic
.05 carrot (.99/pound)
.10 onion (.48/pound)
.05 (a guess) bay leaf, turmeric, cumin seeds, salt and pepper

Total: $1.52 or $.76 per bowl

Tomato Bruschetta (about 5 pieces)
.30 bread (on sale for 1.00)
1.10 roma tomatoes
.06 garlic
.15 olive oil
.05 balsamic
.12 parsley

Total: $1.78 or .356/piece

My dinner (soup + 3 pieces bruschetta -just being honest): $1.83
A little on the pricey side for us but it tasted gourmet and was well-worth it. Enjoy!