Chickpea, Chard and Porcini Soup

by Amy

Substitutions:
1 Cal spray for the butter and olive oil
I used spinach instead of chard. Hugh said I could though.
Dried rosemary instead of fresh

Rating: 6.5

You might have noticed that I give decimal-point ratings to the food I find slightly unfathomable and this is no exception. It wasn't complicated to make (save the porcini-soaking; I mention this mainly to Carol the soak-dodger) and the ingredients were easily available. It's the taste.

I don't know why either, really. Passata's easy to like and I know from my stoup adventures that I like porcini stock. I think I just found them strange soupfellows. You spoon this stuff into your gob expecting familiar tomatoey sweetness and you get this dark pungent hit in the aftertaste and it catches you by surprise. It's like tomato soup... with a dark side. I realise I'm now making it sound totally glamorous and cool when it's actually just damp spinach in mushroom water.

Having said that, to be eliciting such a reaction from me must mean it's quite flavourful, which is impressive considering it's only got a handful of ingredients in it--and is fat free. So I think it is good in its own evil way. But I'll be crossing the street to avoid it in future.