Garden soup

As mentioned in my previous post, I have been quite busy in my garden over the past few months planting and maintaining veg.  The first things that I planted this year were spinach, watercress and rocket seeds.  I sowed them straight into a prepared bed in May and put a bit of compost over the top of them. 

Now, since planting my watercress I have come across a couple of blog posts and articles about growing watercress which indicate that a better method of growing it is in a pot.  I have pinned one of them to a board on pinterest to remind me to do this next year.  However, this year, other than watering the seeds regularly and weeding the bed every now and then, I haven’t really done much with them and they, including the watercress, have grown brilliantly.   

 

Leaves from all of three them have been used in my kitchen for a number of weeks now.  The spinach has been used to make my sunblushtomato and spinach tagliatelle while the rocket and watercress have been used in various salads, sandwiches and wraps.

My best use of the spinach, watercress and rocket soup has been in a soup which has gone down well with both my kids and my husband.  I must confess that I told a bit of a white lie to my daughter in order to get her to eat it the first time I made it.  Leek and potato soup is her favourite, so when she asked me if the green soup in front of her was leek soup I just nodded my head.  She loved it.  The next day she asked could we have the same soup for lunch and she did a fist pump when I said yes.  I told her the truth as she was eating it – that all the ingredients had come from the garden – and she informed me that ‘garden soup’ was now one of her favourite soups. 

It is very simple to make and extremely cheap, especially considering that all I had to buy was an onion (the onions in my garden aren’t ready yet).

To make it I lightly fry an onion in fry lite (always thinking about keeping the fat low!).  When the onion is starting to turn a bit golden I add some cubed potatoes (usually at least 3 medium potatoes for me) and a litre of vegetable stock.  I then cover the pot and bring it to the boil before turning it down to a simmer.  Once the potatoes are soft I add my greens (watercress, spinach and rocket), give it a stir and continue simmering for a few minutes until the greens are wilted.  I then remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup. 

The watercress, spinach and rocket are picked from the garden just before I make the soup.  I usually take my colander out with me and pick until it is full.  I like the soup to be peppery so I tend to pick more rocket and watercress than spinach.