Saturday 19 June 2010

Lettuce and Mint Soup

It's been a 'trial and error' year of growing so far in 2010. The allotment that masqueraded as a council tip is now up and running and bearing some resemblance to an allotment. It may not win any awards, but there are things growing out of the ground that we can actually eat as opposed to want to throw in a skip.

One of the first things I planted as seedlings were a whole host of lettuce, and by far and the most prolific to be coming to maturity are the majestic Cos or Romaine lettuce. We have been eating the long slightly bitter leaves for a couple of weeks now in an effort to keep it under control, which is no bad thing.

If you have never tried lettuce in soup form I urge you to give it a go. A whole Cos went into a simmering pot of stock with potatoes, onion and garlic and a handful of new mint to produce a smooth summer soup bursting with freshness and subtle flavours. And it took all of 20 minutes from chop to slurp.

Lettuce and Mint Soup
Feeds 4

1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced
2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
6 small new potatoes, peeled and chopped in half
500ml vegetable stock
1 Cos lettuce, roughly chopped
1 handful of mint, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper

1 - Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until softened.
2 - Add the potatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
3 - Add the lettuce and mint and stir through for 1 minute.
4 - Blend until smooth and taste for seasoning.

8 comments:

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

We were only thing of a lettuce soup just the other day. I will give this a try.

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Looking good David and that's not just the soup :)

Helen said...

Love a lettuce soup. I think it's just so under-rated as a cooked veg. I also love it braised. I've had most success growing them myself - I mean as opposed to other veg. I've got limited space on the balcony but they always thrive, particularly 'salad leaves' which you just pluck and they keep on coming back.

Jan said...

Good on ya for starting an allotment. We don't have much luck growing lettuce here - it just gets too hot and they bolt before we can eat them. We did manage to get some mesclun greens for a few weeks in spring though.

I would never have thought of putting lettuce in a soup, interesting idea, I will have to give it a try.

I like your new look blog.

Jessica said...

I have never tried lettuce in a soup, but since I do love wilted spinach, it's not too far of a leap. Thanks for the delicious recipe.

jessyburke88@gmail.com

Joanna said...

Hey, David, this is looking a bit different ... & great to hear from you the other day

We're also growing lots more veg this year ... and wanting to eat it, too ;)

I'm partial to a bit of braised lettuce, especially with a few peas ... but I can see we'll soon have a glut of lettuces, and then it will be time to come back to this post

Thanks for sharing
Joanna

Anh said...

This is the first time I've heard of lettuce soup! That color is stunning!

Unknown said...

The simple things are always the best. I've only used the core of a lettuce in a soup before but this is worth a go.

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