Green garden soup
A refreshing, chilled, green garden soup could be just what you're looking for at your next barbecue. Light, nutritious and full of flavour.
For this recipe you will need a blender.
Ingredients
- 100g/3½fl oz piece of sourdough baguette, crusts removed
- 4 pickled gherkins, plus100ml/3½fl oz pickle liquor
- 2 bunches watercress
- 8 ice cubes
- 1 courgette
- 1 cucumber
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 16 fresh pea pods, shelled
- ½ bunch chives
- ½ bunch dill
- 100g/3½fl oz yoghurt
- 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 8 slices sourdough baguette
- 1 whole Edmund Tew cheese
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- borage flowers and fresh soft herbs, to garnish (optional)
Method
Tear the crustless bread into pieces and soak in the pickle liquor until it starts to soften.
Wash the watercress and put in a bowl with the ice cubes.
Grate the courgette and roughly chop the cucumber, gherkins and iceberg lettuce.
In a large bowl, mix the peas, chives, dill, yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of oil, the soaked bread, chopped vegetables and watercress.
Transfer to the blender one handful at a time and blend until smooth. You may not need to do this in batches depending on the strength of your blender. If it isn’t very smooth you can pass the soup through a sieve into a clean bowl before serving. Season to taste and place in the fridge to chill or until you are ready to serve.
Slice the baguette thinly into croûtons. Place a frying pan on a medium heat or on the barbecue. Drizzle the bread with the remaining olive oil, salt and pepper. Toast until golden and crunchy.
Portion the soup into bowls and decorate with a drizzle of olive oil, cracked black pepper, borage flowers and any soft herbs from the garden. Serve with a pile of croûtons and the cheese alongside.