Hearty and warming for winter, this soup combines Spanish-inspired flavours like chorizo sausage with nutrient-packed beans and iron-rich spinach. Replace the smoked rashers with bacon, guanciale or smoked ham hock if desired. 

 Prep time: 20 mins /Cook time: 30 mins /Serves: 4-6

 Ingredients:

   6 smoked pork rashers, cut into lardons

–           250g chorizo sausage, sliced into rounds

–           1 large brown onion, finely diced

–           2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

–           Olive oil

–           4 litres chicken stock

–           2 Parmesan rinds – optional

–           Sea salt and black pepper

–           1 bag spinach, washed and roughly chopped

–           1x 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained

–           Grated Parmesan, to serve

Method

In a large pot over medium heat, fry the pork rashers until crispy, rendering out most of the fat. Remove the rashers from the fat and set aside. Fry the chorizo in the pork fat until crisp, remove the set aside. Sauté the onion in the residual fat until soft and then add in the garlic. Once fragrant, pour over the chicken stock and season with salt, pepper and the Parmesan rinds, if using. Simmer the stock for 10 minutes and then add in the spinach and beans. Cook for a further 5 minutes and then add in the rashers and half of the chorizo. Remove the Parmesan rinds just before serving.

Serve the soup topped with the extra chorizo and lots of grated Parmesan.