Loosely chop the tomatoes, removing the white pith from the centre of the tomato. Place the tomato into a blender and whiz until smooth. Finely dice the garlic and onion. Heat half the olive oil in a deep saucepan over a medium heat. Toss in the garlic and onion and fry for about 3 – 4 minutes until the onion has softened. De-stalk chop the thyme, add alongside the oregano and red pepper flakes to the pan and fry with the onion for a minute more.

Pour the tomatoes into the pan, bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the white beans to the pan and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Whilst the stew is cooking, chops the aubergine into 1 cm pieces. Heat the remaining olive oil in a wide frying pan over a high heat and fry the aubergine for 5 minutes or until the exterior has taken some colour and the pieces have softened.

Uncover the stew. Chop the green beans into small pieces, about half a cm in length. and toss into the mixture. Season the broth and remove from the heat. Allow the pan to sit for a couple of minutes. Tear the bread into small pieces (if it isn’t suitably stale you can place into a hot oven for a few minutes to dry out) and then tip into the soup along with 100 ml of boiling water. Mix the pieces into the stew with a wooden spoon, allowing the bread to soak up the sauce. If the stew becomes too thick, you can add a little more boiling water to thin.

Serve the soup in bowls with a good helping of the aubergine arranged on top.