Chickpea-Spinach Soup

This is a fairly new recipe to me, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I found it. Cook’s Illustrated, I’m thinking, except I’m not seeing it in my more recent issues as I skim them quickly. Anyway, here it is!

Ingredients:

oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon (5g) cumin
1/2 teaspoon (3g) hot pepper flakes

2 cups (500mL) cooked chickpeas (that’d be a 190z/540 mL can; I soak/cook them from dried)
4 cups stock (recipe calls for chicken; use vegetable for vegetarian)

1 pkg (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and chopped (no need to squeeze out excess water)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1 t lemon juice

1. In large pot, cook onion, garlic, cumin and pepper flakes gently till soft.

2. Puree chickpeas with stock in food processor or blender*. Add to onion mix. Bring to boil.

3. Add remainder of ingredients. Simmer till hot through.

*This, of course, is my adaptation, to the tastes of my family. You may opt to put the chickpeas in whole, in which case, once you’ve cooked the onions and spices, you simply plop everything else in and let it simmer. I think it may be because I puree the chickpeas rather than put them in whole, but I tend to find it needs more lemon juice. Thick and rich and nourishing.