Step 1

Roughly chop the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Place them in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. If you don't have a food processor, just try to chop them up as finely as you can.

Step 2

Heat the oil in a pot over medium-low heat. Add the minced vegetables and thyme. Gently fry, stirring from time to time, until the vegetables are very soft - about 15 minutes. The idea is for the vegetables to flavour the soup and be almost undetectable.

Step 3

Add the chickpeas and vegetable stock and raise to heat to bring it to a boil. Add the orzo and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the orzo is al dente, as indicated on the package instructions (usually just a couple minutes).

Step 4

Meanwhile, place the almond butter in a bowl and add a ladle of the hot soup broth. Stir to dissolve the almond butter.

Step 5

When the pasta is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and add the almond butter, lemon zest, salt and lemon juice. Lemon juice can quickly overpower the soup so I recommend starting with 1 tablespoon then adding more if you want to.