The night before, put your white beans in a bowl, cover generously with water, and let soak for at least 8 hours*.

Dice the half onion. Halve the carrot lengthwise, then finely slice across its width on a slight diagonal. Cut the celery like you did the carrot – in half lengthwise, then thinly across. Crush your cloves of garlic to remove their peels.

In a pot or saucepan on medium-high heat, pour in enough olive oil to generously cover its bottom. Add the onion, then after a couple of minutes add the carrot and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, and once the vegetables have softened (about 6 or so minutes) stir in the garlic cloves and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

Let the garlic cook with the vegetables for a couple of minutes while you finely dice the potato and drain and rinse the beans. Transfer the beans and potato to the pot, then add enough just-boiled water to cover by about 2cm. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to low, cover the pot loosely with a lid, and let simmer for 45 minutes.

Remove the lid and add a splash of milk (I used oat) if you like, as well as an additional seasoning of salt, your favourite herbs or herb blend (I like a bit of thyme and rosemary), and as many chili flakes as you’d like (I used just a light sprinkling). Crush some of the beans to thicken them up, then return the lid to simmer a further 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and crush a few more beans if you’d like them to be creamier.

To serve, butter both sides of a slice of bread and toast until golden in a frying pan with olive oil and a faint sprinkle of salt on medium-high heat. Stir some beans through a spoonful of quality pesto, then spread on top of the toast. Top with extra pesto, a healthy drizzle of olive oil, and some freshly cracked black pepper.