Eat your greens soup!

I found myself with some odds and ends of green vegetables left in my fridge this week and not much else. With my husband at home on paternity leave and son on holiday from school, we've got through our weekly veg box faster than usual and this was all I had remaining. As it was a bit of a rainy, gloomy day, I decided to make a soup with what I had. The result was quite tasty and both children enjoyed it too, even though they usually are not so keen on the vegetables it contained!

I'm going to give rough quantities below but obviously the beauty of the recipe is that you can adapt it to whatever green veg you might happen to have lurking in your refrigerator. It is not a heavy, hearty soup so it works well as a meal for a cool spring day. If you wanted to make it richer, you could stir in a spoonful of creme fraiche, some double cream or some grated cheese.

Eat your greens soup!

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 sticks celery, finely chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled & diced
• Green veg (I used 2/3 cauliflower and 1/4 cabbage but broccoli, kale or any green veg would do), cut into smallish pieces
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• Oil of your choice

Method
Pour a splash of oil into a large pan and gently fry the onion and celery until soft.
Add the potato, stir and cover for a couple mins. Then cover generously with water and crumble in your stock cube. Bring to the boil on a high heat, then turn down to low.
Add the green veg and cook gently for 10-15 mins until soft.
Using a hand (immersion) blender or a food processor, blend the soup until smooth, adding more water if necessary to achieve a good consistency.
Stir in the pesto over a gentle heat and season to taste.
Serve warm in bowls with crusty bread.

I'm linking up with this week's #recipe of the week
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photo credit