First posted: Mar 30, 2017

Green Goodness Soup

Sometimes, when the weather is in-betweeny as it is now (giving us the most beautiful, crisp Autumn skies here in Joburg), you feel like eating food that’s somewhere between a salad and a comforting bowl of something nourishing. This soup is that, in all it’s mighty green goodness. I make giant batches of this every few weeks and freeze them for lunches and speedy suppers as we go. The trick is to create a delicious, rich stock and then add in all of the beautiful green veggies until they are just cooked, so that they retain that bright pop of colour.

Ingredients

Cooks in:30 minutes Serves:4

3 gem squash, halved
1 medium-large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 sprig fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary or a few sage leaves
1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil
About 250g leeks, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 small broccoli, roughly chopped
1 cup frozen peas
200g courgettes, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1.25L good quality Chicken Stock (I like to use an old chicken carcas cooked slowly with a chopped onion, carrot, celery, salt and pepper)

What to do

1. Fill a large pot with hot water, bring to the boil and add the 6 gem squash halves. Leave to simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until soft and can be easily scooped from their skins.

2. Meanwhile, in a separate large pot, heat the butter and olive oil and brown the onion for 3-4 minutes. Add the leeks and garlic and fry until the leeks have softened.

3. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper, stir and leave to simmer. Drain the gem squash, de-seed and then scoop out the pulp with a spoon, adding it to the onion and leek soup stock.

4. After a further 10 minutes, add in the remaining ingredients, stir through, bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Leave to stand until the vegetables are just cooked through. Blend and serve with a drizzle of olive oil and a dollop of natural yoghurt if you like.

Photo Credit: Curtis Gallon