Our Go-To Simple & Nutritious Green Soup Recipe

A Note From Food Editor, Robert

I love to make soups because they are such a great way to make use of any veg I have in my pantry and fridge, perfect for a warming lunch or dinner. As we enter the midst of Spring, the garden is producing lots of wonderful green vegetables – think broccoli, cabbage, celery, and leeks, which are the basis for a wonderful hearty and nutritious soup.

As I flitted through my local farmers market this week, I was heartened to see the winter greens still going strong, so picked up a couple leeks, a couple of heads of deep purple sprouting broccoli from the organic farm and I knew I have some potatoes and selection of onions in my store pantry. And just like that my lunch plan was already coming together my imagery pot, and because I couldn’t resist its glossy leaves I picked up a head of Cavolo Nero, plus the farmer threw in a couple of parsnips which he told me had just been pulled the day previously.

So suddenly a ray of kitchen sunlight, I had the basics for Green Soup. I hope it brings you some solace in these tough days of what we will always remember, sadly for all the wrong reasons. 

Ingredients

2 teaspoons of Organic Olive oil 

2 red onions or 3 shallots

2 leeks, sliced up finely 

2 Stems of Celery 

1 Carrot – peeled or washed well and diced 

1 Parsnip – peeled and cut into chunks 

1 large potato (or equivalent), nicely peeled and cut into chunks (roughly 1cm)

2 Purple Sprouting broccoli, aim for around 250g

250g frozen peas 

150g of Cavolo Nero – shredded and washed thoroughly 

600ml of stock – taking one cube of organic vegetable stock 

Large handful of parsley 

Pinch of dried herbs (sage, thyme, rosemary) 

Sea salt and Black Pepper

Method

Add chopped onion, celery, carrot into heating oil and gently cook on medium heat. Then add the leek and potato and parsnip, adding tablespoon of water (if needed) to keep the mixture soft. Aim to cook for around 10 mins. Season with salt and pepper. Add dried herbs.

Take the broccoli, add to a pan of boiling water, cook for 3 minutes then add peas – cook for 2 minutes more.

Prepare a bowl of iced water,  Drain (conserve the cooking water) and plunge all veg into frozen water. – it really helps to keep their glorious green. 

Add organic vegetable stock to the veg pot (leek+pot etc), bring to boil, add the green veg and the cavello and cook gently for further 5 minutes. 

Switch off the heat source. Add herbs. Take a hand blender and carefully blend the vegetables into soup. Lunch is served. Add seasoning to taste.