During the early part of summer beautiful vegetables begin to appear in the markets, but the weather can still be cold and soggy. At this season soup can come into its own. What’s needed is a soup that’s good served hot or cold, easy to whip up after a hard day at work, and substantial enough to make a meal. For me, this recipe fits the bill. I really enjoyed creating it, and hope you love it as much as we did.
Summertime Soup
My soup looks almost this good, but we ate it before I could take a picture!
Serves 4 as a starter or 2 hungry people as a main dish.
1 Onion
1 Courgette
1tbls Olive Oil
300g frozen Peas
1 large bunch Asparagus
2tsp stock powder (e.g. Marigold)
1/2 Avocado
Squeeze of lime juice
Few sprigs of fresh mint
2 Spring Onions
Yoghurt or equivalent to serve (optional)
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Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Finely chop the onion, dice the courgette and add them both to the pan. Cook on a low-medium heat for 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Meanwhile wash the asparagus, snap off the woody parts and cut the tips off so that the tip is around 4-5cm in length. Set the tips aside.
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When the vegetables in the pan are cooked, add all but a handful of the peas, all the asparagus stems and half the mint. Add water so it just covers the vegetables. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 5-10 minutes until the vegetables are cooked through but not mushy.
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Take the pan off the heat, add the avocado and blend the contents of the pan with a stick blender until smooth.
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Add the rest of the peas and the asparagus tips to the pan. Cook gently for 5 minutes until the vegetables are just cooked through, but the asparagus still retain their firmness.
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Add the lime juice to the pan. Stir, taste and add more seasoning if necessary. Finely chop the spring onions and the remainder of the mint. Serve garnished with a dollop of natural yoghurt or its dairy-free equivalent if you like it, and sprinkled with the spring onions and mint.