Although the weather this week has felt more summer like than spring, this does not mean that I intend to stop eating soup. Yes, warmer days do make me fancy salad more, but I can always fancy a bowl of tasty, homemade soup because it is filling, nutritious and cheap to make, and ideal for using up any vegetables lurking at the bottom of my fridge!
After all of the indulgence from the long chocolate fuelled Easter weekend, Tuesday morning I woke up and drew a line, so to speak, and decided to kick start it by making a vegetable soup for lunch. Normally I make my soups in my soup maker and blend them to make them smooth. However, just for change I thought I would make one the old fashioned way; on the hob and left chunky. I opted to make a minestrone of sorts, but as usual, I made one in my own way and in place of pasta I added some chickpeas, and knowing how well these and vegetables go well with garlic and lemon, I decided to add these flavours too. So I used some rapeseed oil infused with lemon to saute my vegetables in
and then later on in my soup making process, I added a generous squirt of the New Covent Garden Souper Booster Wild Garlic and Herbs – a great way of adding some flavour and freshness to my soup
The lemon worked really well in this soup, it was only a subtle background flavour but I think it worked well. The chickpeas added some lovely texture to the soup along with the chunky fresh vegetables, and the Souper Booster added a real zing and depth of flavour which was just delicious!
Here is my recipe for my Wild Garlic, Lemon & Chickpea Minestrone
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil infused with lemon (or use normal olive oil and some grated lemon zest)
- 1 red onion, chopped finely
- 1 brown onion, chopped finely
- 1 small leek, chopped into rings
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1 red pepper, chopped into bite sized pieces
- 1 small sweet potato, peeled and grated
- 6 small tomatoes (I used ones on the vine as they are sweeter), chopped
- 1/2 head of a medium broccoli, cut into small heads
- 400g can of chickpeas
- 2 chicken stock cubes
- 1 1/2 pints of boiling water
- 1/2 tube of Covent Garden Wild Garlic & Herbs Souper Booster
- pinch of black pepper
- place the oil in a large pan , over a moderate heat
- add the onions and saute for 3-4 minutes
- add the carrots and leek and continue to cook for another 5 minutes
- add the pepper and keep cooking for a further 4 minutes
- add the tomatoes and grated sweet potato and stir well
- mix the stock cube with the water and add to the pan
- bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 minutes
- add the chickpeas
- 5 minutes later add the broccoli and the Souper Booster and some black pepper, and stir well and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the broccoli is just cooked
- Serve and enjoy
This was lovely, light and fresh flavoured soup and so nice in fact that I had some for my tea aswell!
The New Covent Garden Souper Boosters come in 4 varieties and cost just £2. They pack a lot of flavour and really made my soup come alive. Blends include Mexican Chilli, Aromatic Thai, Wild Garlic & Herb and Roasted Moroccan.
I was sent some ingredients and Souper Boosters for the purpose of creating a soup with which to carry out a review, which I have done honestly.
I was also sent a selection of rapeseed oils from Borderfields for the purpose of a review. These oils are a great way of adding some instant flavour to your cooking. Plus they are made here in Britain using British grown rape seeds and is a great alternative to olive oil. Look for the hashtag #HomegrownGoodness for more information.
Linking up to:
Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa’s Kitchen
Susan Mann
Looks and sounds amazing x
familyfriendsfoodblog
This looks fabulous. What a great combination of flavours!
Jac -Tinned Tomatoes (@tinnedtoms)
Nice photo Jenny and great looking soup. Thanks for submitting it to No Croutons Required. The roundup is now live.