Melissa Etheridge ~ Please Forgive Me
Rainbow ~ Since You've Been Gone
Bowes & Morley ~ Drifting Away
Kings of Leon ~ Be Somebody
Thunder ~ Stand Up
Queen ~ Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy
I bought a bargain bag of spring greens at the weekend. I have no idea why because they are my least favourite of the green leafy family. I know I should like them...I want to like them...but somehow I never quite reach that place. I did buy some when we were on holiday in Wales and enjoyed them but trying to eat them back home...nope. Aren't taste buds strange? lol Anyway in the spirit of economising I couldn't argue that this large bag of leaves, for 69p, weren't good value. So I put them in the trolley and home with us they came. So I did a search for Spring Green recipes and one of the first ones that came up was this one by Nigel Slater. He is one of the few TV chefs that I can watch...even though his recipes are hardly ever vegan...he just seems like a nice chap..so much so that I bought his autobiography Toast
and really enjoyed it.This recipe was virtually vegan and to make it so, all I had to do was sub the butter listed for olive oil. It was a straight forward soup recipe and the only labour was checking over the greens for little guests and then washing them. I think it's the smell of greens as you chop them that I don't like..anyway that was the hard part. It did smell good as it was cooking. However Nigel serves his as is..and quite frankly even I found it too 'full' and I'm the one who likes chunky soups. So I compromised and half blitzed it which left it with a very lovely speckled green colour and just enough bite to call it 'chunky'. lol.
This soup is very good and the lemon with the spring greens..very tasty. I think this will be my go to Spring Greens recipe now lol. Thanks Nigel!
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| Nigel Slaters Spring Greens & Lemon Soup |
(Recipe found online but listed as Nigel Slaters creation)
4 leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced thinly
1 tbsp olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
1 litre of veggie stock
2 bayleaves
4 handfuls of spring greens, washed and thinly sliced
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
In a large soup pan add the oil and the leeks and stir to combine. Cover with the lid and leave to soften over a low heat. They should not colour.
Once softened add the carrots and celery to the pan. Pour over the veggie stock and add the bayleaves, salt and pepper to season. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes until the veggies are soft but the colour is still bright.
Add the grated lemon zest and the greens to the pan. Stir thoroughly. Add the lemon juice gradually to check for preferred 'sourness'. (I just put mine in and it was fine!) Simmer for 2-3 minutes until the greens are just tender.
Check the seasoning...and serve. Or...half blitz if the soup it too 'full'. It doesn't effect the flavour of the soup.
Enjoy! ~Red~
