Made to: Eat. Welcome Autumn

October is here. In Tokyo it's still unseasonbly warm, I was hoping it wouldn't be... but here we are. Despite the persistent higher temperatures, my body is still craving the earthy flavors this time of year brings in, and I'm hungry all the time. Enter everyone's hero: Soup. Comforter, low-ish in calories, and it lasts a couple of days in the refrigerator, although this soup is quite nice, so my husband usually finishes it all in one or two sittings.

A few years ago I saw a recipe somewhere on the internet for something called "tuscan white bean something or other" I watched about 1/8 of the video and decided I could probably wing it. I am a vegeterian and the more fancy version of what I'm about to share with you had all sorts of things like italian sausage, and the like in it. This is a simple version that takes about 25 minutes from top to tail. It also doesn't require much equipment. We are at the farm this weekend and the kitchen is quite spartan. I literally only possess a large frying pan, a soup pot, a ladel, a knife, and a cutting board... and thankfully, to make this you don't even need the soup pot!

We begin with some basics. Roughly chop a yellow onion, and as many cloves of garlic as your heart tells you to. Tonight I used 4, but if the mood strikes, I might use 44. Heat up the frying pan and add a tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom. Toss in the onion and the garlic. Let that sweat and become a bit translucent. Rough chop the mushrooms and add those as well.

While that's cooking, wander outside and pull some fresh rosemary out of the weed patch and some of the fresh oregano you forgot about. slide your fingers down the stems backwards and pull off all the leaves, and put them in with the onion and garlic.

I didn't have any thyme growing, so I added dry thyme at this point. I promise no one will know. Add these things to your own taste. I love herbs so I add a lot.

Now add some salt! I'd say about a teaspoon. After the salt is in there, crank up the heat and put a little colour on your onions (burn them a little...or if you're fancy, caramelize them).

Chop the spinach! I just added a few handfulls of leaves and stems. I let that cook down a bit. Now is a good opportunity to add a wee bit of water so you can add the next ingredient, the veggie stock. I used powder, but if you use liquid, water is unnecessary of course.

In comes the real stars of the show. A tin of italian crushed tomatoes (they're not flavored in any way, they just came from italy), and two boxes of white beans.

Now we're just going to let this simmer for a bit. It doesn't look like much at this point anyway, and it needs to just have a bit of time on the hob.

After that's had about 5 minutes on a middling heat, go ahead and add the magic:

200ml of heavy cream.

once again, crank up the heat and let it bubble for maybe the last 5 or so minutes until it begins to look like something you might want to eat.

If you're fancy, add the leftover sprig of herbs to the top of your soup and some yummy toast to your bowl. I suppose looking at all of these steps, it's a bit of a faff, but I think the cost/performance works out for the most part.

Enjoy your bowl of soup, and then sit down with your knitting. Happy October!

Ingredients

• 1 yellow onion

• 4 cloves of garlic (or as many as your heart desires!)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• Mushrooms, roughly chopped (as many as you like)

• Fresh rosemary, to taste

• Fresh oregano, to taste

• Thyme, fresh or dried, to taste

• Approximately 1 teaspoon salt

• A few handfuls of fresh spinach, leaves and stems

• Vegetable stock (powdered or liquid)

• A little water (if using powdered stock)

• 1 tin of Italian crushed tomatoes

• 2 boxes of white beans

• 200 ml heavy cream

• Toast, to serve (optional)

• Fresh herbs, to garnish (optional)