Keep warm with a bowl (or two) of this tasty bean soup from Vicky Jones's book, Out of the Pod.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, trimmed and chopped
• 1 cup dried broad beans, skinned
• 4 cups vegetable stock or water
• 1/2 tsp dried savoury (optional)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen broad beans, shelled
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 handful of fresh mint, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1 Add the oil to a saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and celery and cook until soft; avoid browning.

2 When soft, add the dried broad beans to the pan, stir around, then add the stock and savoury, if using. Cover and bring to a boil, then keep at a boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for a further 20 to 50 minutes, or until the beans have broken down into a mush.

3 Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a boil and blanch the fresh broad beans for 1 minute; remove them using a slotted spoon and skin them if the skins are tough. Scald the tomatoes in the same pot of boiling water, then skin and chop them.

4 Purée the dried bean and celery mixture until smooth using an immersion blender; stir in the fresh beans, tomatoes and mint and reheat gently.

5 Season to taste with salt and pepper; serve.

Prep & cook time: 1 1/2 hours
Serves: 4

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Excerpted from Out of the Pod by Vicky Jones.
Recipes Copyright © 2015 Vicky Jones, Photography copyright © 2015 William Reavell. Excerpted by permission of Ryland, Peters & Small and CICO Books. All rights reserved.