Tomato soup with bacon and chickpeas

Here in January it is time to make some warming soup to keep the cold weather at bay. Therefore I made this tomato soup with bacon and chickpeas, which my mother also a portion of after our Sunday meal.

I have located this recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag", making a few adjustment to the content of my kitchen.

Tomato soup with bacon and chickpeas: - 4 servings

• 215 g bacon - slices
• olive oil
• 2 onions - medium chopped
• 4 stems of celery - medium chopped
• 4 carrots - medium chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 140 g tomato concentrate
• 800 - 1000 g canned tomato
• 1 l vegetable stock
• 4 teaspoons of paprika
• 2 cans (400 g each) of chickpeas
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• parsley - optional

1. Start by frying the bacon slices on a dry frying pan until they are crispy.
2. Place the fried bacon slices on kitchen towel. Before serving chop the slices into smaller pieces.
3. Heat up the olive oil in a big cooking pot. 
4. Saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrot for 4 minutes.
5. Add in the tomato concentrate and let it fry for ½ minute, before adding in the canned tomato and vegetable stock.
6. Bring the soup to the boil, and let the soup simmer under the lid for 20 minutes, while you stir from time to time.
7. Empty the chickpeas from the cans and wash under running tap water. Add the chickpeas into the soup and let them warn up in the soup for 2 minutes.
8. Serve the soup warm with crisp bacon, parsley (optional) and slices of bread with marple syrup