Kale and white bean soup with parmesan toasts Recipe

• Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan set over a low-medium heat.
• Add the onion, carrot and celery to the pan and cook gently, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until softened.
• Turn up the heat, stir in the tomato purée, garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a minute or so.
• Add the cannellini beans to the pan with the stock and thyme leaves and bring to the boil.
• Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 5 minutes.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and tip half of the soup into a bowl.
• Using a handheld blender whiz the remaining soup to a purée.
• Return the rest to the pan and stir in the kale.
• Season and bring back to a simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often until the kale is completely tender.
• Stir in the lemon juice to lift the flavours.
• To make the parmesan toasts, preheat the grill to medium.
• Brush the baguette slices with the olive oil and space out on a baking sheet.
• Grill for a couple of minutes, until pale golden.
• Turn the toasts over and sprinkle the non-grilled sides with half the grated parmesan.
• Return to the grill until the cheese is melted and bubbling.
• Serve the hot soup scattered with the reserved parmesan, with the parmesan toasts. 

Get ahead: 

• make the soup the day before, chill.
• Reheat before serving and add the lemon juice to serve.