Bacon and butterbean soup

Ingredients

• 400g (usually 1 can) butter beans
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 6 rashers lean bacon, cut into chunks
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme
• 1 tbsp white wine
• 750ml stock, chicken or vegetable
• ¼ tsp hot chilli powder or flakes
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp crème fraiche
• 1 tsp grainy mustard
• a handful of lightly toasted pine nuts
  

Instructions

1. Drain and rinse the butter beans.
2. Heat the olive oil and put the onions and bacon in a medium saucepan and cook on a medium heat until they are just starting to brown, add the butter beans and garlic and stir in the thyme.
3. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and a bit of stock, scraping all the nice brown bits off the bottom of the pan, then add the rest of the stock and the chilli. Bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer for about 10-15 minutes uncovered.
4. Put the soup in a liquidiser and blend until smooth (if you like some chunky bits in your soup, only liquidise about 2/3 of the mix), return to the pan, taste and season, turn right down and let cook for another 5 minutes or so very low.
5. Mix the crème fraiche and the mustard together.
6. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until browning.
7. When you serve the soup, stir in a tablespoon of the mustard crème fraiche and scatter with some toasted pine nuts.
   

If you can get smoked garlic, it is wonderful in this recipe instead of normal garlic; stir in some chopped fresh herbs – basil, mint, chives, etc – at the last minute.