Spanish Chorizo, Spinach & Garbanzo Bean Soup

Several years ago, I bought some Spanish Chorizo Sausage (Palacios Chorizo Picante – Fresh Market | Publix).  Spanish Chorizo is dried and has a large amount of paprika.  I googled for a Chorizo soup and found a Chorizo and kale recipe.  This recipe was simple with Chorizo, kale and potatoes and some seasoning.  But, I don’t like kale as much as spinach, so I normally substitute spinach.  The soup’s surface reflects a ruby red color from the paprika.  I have also tried this with white beans instead of potatoes.

I haven’t been completely happy with the last several times when I made this soup.  Today, I looked online for some other ingredients to add.

The basic recipe starts with Chorizo, onion and potatoes sauteed in a little olive oil in a pot on the stove top.   I now add a good portion of Smoked Paprika (Penzeys in Raleigh), some freshly ground pepper, onion flakes and garlic powder.  I added a little turmeric today, along with some marjoram, tarragon and a few crushed red pepper flakes.  I forgot that I added freshly ground cumin.

But today, I googled for additional ingredients, and surprise… Garbanzo beans!  I normally do not like the texture of Garbanzo beans, especially in salads, but I usually have several cans of these beans in the cupboard because I found that I can make a delicious hummus at home.  So, I added a can of Garbanzo beans to this soup today, and I was surprised at how delicious this made the soup.  All of the above ingredients came together for a very delicious soup.  It had good flavor and the dark green of the spinach, the white of the potato and beans, and the ruby red color from the paprika makes this an attractive soup also.

 

This is not a picture of the soup that I fixed, but it appears to be close enough to give you an idea.  My soup had more spinach and this soup may include tomatoes, but mine did not.  Also because of the extra paprika, mine had a darker red color.  *Well, it is obvious that my soup did not have a darker red color.

ADDENDUM:  Although I still make this soup with spinach, I now like kale better.  The spinach, especially canned spinach is too mushy, but still good flavor.