Green soup!

(Rocket, silverbeet and potato…)

These sunny-but-cool days & lengthening nights sing to me of soup, soup and more soup – and this is a great way to use up the bolting rocket!

Green soup!

Fresh from the garden: rocket, silverbeet, potatoes, chives
Recipe source: Melissa
Serves: 8 or 24 tastes

What to do:

• Fill the kettle and, making sure you have dry hands, set it to boil.
• Peel the potatoes under running cold water & cut into 2cm cubes.
• Wash the chives, shake dry and slice into 1cm bits.
• Peel the garlic cloves and squeeze them through the garlic press.
• Melt butter in the large stockpot over medium heat and sauté the chives and garlic for a minute, and then add the potato cubes and turn so that the potato sweats in the butter.
• Meanwhile wash the rocket in several changes of water and spin dry. Roll up and slice into thin ribbons.
• Wash the silverbeet in several changes of water and shake dry. Slice or cut the leaves up the middle to remove the stems, then chop them into cm pieces. Roll up the leaves and finely slice them into ribbons.
• Measure the bouillon & boiling water into a litre jug, stir and then pour it into the potatoes. Bring them to a boil, then turn down to a simmer, cover and cook gently over low heat for 10 minutes, then add the silverbeet stalks.
• Cook for 2 minutes – check that the potato is tender, then stir in rocket and silverbeet leaves. Increase heat to medium and simmer for another 2 minutes. If it’s really thick you may want to add another cup of hot water.
• With dry hands, plug in the handheld mixer and carefully whizz the soup until it is silky smooth.
• Taste for correct seasoning (the bouillon is salty so you may not need any extra salt) and ladle into bowls to serve.

Notes: What other vegetables can be used for soup? How many different procedures are there in this recipe? Why do we want the potato to ‘sweat’?

Thick green soup!