Courgette, Pea and Mint Soup
This is a beautiful and vibrant soup that will boost your vegetable intake for the day. I don’t see many people taking flasks to work these days and I think it’s a real shame; home-made soup is such a fabulous lunchtime option and is a great way to save some pennies! Reheating this soup is perfectly fine as long as you heat it thoroughly but it’s equally gorgeous cold on a hot day! This recipe serves four, giving you four meals ready for the week as the soup will last 3–4 days in the fridge.
It also freezes well.
SERVES 4
• 1 tsp coconut or olive oil
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• 300g frozen peas
• 3 medium courgettes (about 500g), grated
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• small handful of mint leaves, plus extra to serve
• salt and black pepper
• crème fraîche or yoghurt, to serve
Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onion over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook for a further minute before adding the peas, grated courgettes and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before transferring all the mixture to a blender. Blitz until smooth then add the mint leaves and blitz again. Return to the pan and taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve with some extra mint leaves, a swirl of crème fraîche or yoghurt and some freshly ground black pepper.
Recipe extract from Re-Nourish by Rhiannon Lambert, published by Yellow Kite, £19.99
Photography by Tamin Jones