Chefs Binge · Eastern European · Serves 6 servings
Spring Vegetable Soup with Peas, Asparagus & Dill
Peas, asparagus and spinach blended with potato rather than cream, finished with dill and a squeeze of lemon. Ready in half an hour and it stays properly green.
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Total
30 min
Serves
6 servings
Per serving
119 kcal
Ingredients
30 ml olive oil - or 30 g butter
180 g banana shallots - about 3 medium-sized, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves - diced
60 g celery - 1 stalk, finely diced
250 g asparagus - trimmed and cut into 2.5 cm pieces (optional: reserve a few tips for garnish)
1500 ml vegetable or chicken stock
200 g starchy potatoes - e.g., Maris Piper or Yukon Gold, finely diced
150 g fresh peas - or frozen
200 g fresh spinach - left whole, no need to chop
10 g fresh dill - chopped (plus few springs for garnish)
Salt and black pepper - to taste
6 tbsp Greek yoghurt - to serve
1 Lemon - cut into wedges, to serve
Equipment
Immersion blender · Reinforced Bouillon Strainer
Method
1
Sauté Base. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over a medium heat and add the butter once the oil is warm. Add the banana shallots, garlic and celery and cook until translucent and barely coloured, about 5 minutes. Keep them moving, because browned garlic turns bitter and blending spreads that through the whole pot. Stir in the asparagus and cook for another 2 minutes.
2
Simmer the Base. Pour in the stock, then add the diced potatoes and the peas. Bring to the boil, drop straight back to a gentle simmer and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 10-12 minutes. The potato is the thickener as well as the timer, so it needs to be properly soft or the blend will be grainy.
3
Add Spinach & Dill. Take the pot off the heat, then add the spinach leaves and the chopped dill. Put the lid on and let them wilt in the residual heat for 2-4 minutes. Off the heat is deliberate: it is what keeps the soup green rather than olive.
4
Blend the Soup. Blend with an immersion blender, either fully smooth or leaving some texture. Season with salt and black pepper now rather than earlier. If it comes out fibrous, blend for longer and then push it through a fine sieve with the back of a ladle.
5
Serve with Garnish. Ladle into bowls, add a dollop of Greek yoghurt and a sprig of dill, and put lemon wedges on the table. Both go into the bowl rather than the pan: acid in the pot turns the green grey, and yoghurt stirred into hot soup splits. For a dairy-free bowl, skip the yoghurt and finish with lemon and a drizzle of olive oil.
Chef’s notes
- The spinach and the dill go in off the heat. Take the pot off the hob first. Residual heat wilts 200 g of spinach in two to four minutes, and doing it off the boil is the main reason this soup stays green rather than going olive.
- Nothing acidic in the pot. Lemon and yoghurt both go into the bowl at the table. Acid displaces the magnesium in the chlorophyll and the green turns grey within minutes, and yoghurt stirred into hot soup will split.
- Snap the asparagus rather than cutting it. It breaks where the woody part ends, which is different on every spear. That woody inch is the commonest cause of a stringy soup.
- If it comes out fibrous, blend for longer than feels necessary, then push it through a fine sieve with the back of a ladle.
- Keeping it: three to four days in the fridge, three months frozen, always without the yoghurt. Reheat gently and only until hot; a second boil costs the colour and most of the dill. Stir fresh dill in after reheating.
Per serving Calories 119 kcal · Protein 4.6 g · Carbs 15.7 g · Fat 5.2 g · Saturates 1.7 g · Fibre 2.6 g · Sugar 2.5 g · Sodium 275 mg
Recipe © Chef Łukasz Babral · chefsbinge.com · for personal use only
chefsbinge.com/spring-vegetable-soup-with-peas-asparagus-dill
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