Summer is chuntering along and the veg plot is giving up little harvests every other day. I’ve tried to plant things in smaller numbers this year so that I don’t end up with massive gluts and a slight panicked feeling of “oh hell, what do I do with ALL THIS VEG.”

As soup is one of my most favourite things to eat, ever (along with stews, indian dishes, mexican food and good old English veggie roast dinners), I’ve regularly been throwing together what I call ‘garden soup’ with whatever becomes available from the veg plots. Every batch tastes a little different, but has similar earthy tones and that unmistakable freshly-picked flavour. You can’t really go wrong with garden soup if you stick to the cucurbits, root veg, tubers and alliums… so mix it up as much as you like!

COURGETTE & PEA GARDEN SOUP (VEGAN, VEGETARIAN)

Here’s my courgette and pea soup that I made recently. If I’m honest, I’m really not a fan of courgettes so it wasn’t my favourite soup ever, but Rich really liked it. I’m more of an allium/root veg fan but this recipe is essentially my standard veg soup, with less carrots and more courgette thrown in. I’ve included the variety of veg that I’ve grown if you’re interested in such things…

INGREDIENTS
2 x homegrown Hercules onions, chopped & diced
1 large clove homegrown Cristo garlic, crushed & chopped
2-3 large handfuls of homegrown Rondo peas
2 x organic carrots
2 x medium homegrown yellow courgettes, chopped
3 x homegrown Picasso potatoes, chopped & diced (any floury or second early potato will do)
4 TBSPS Marigold bouillon (stock) powder (Vegan)
Seasoning – cayenne pepper, cracked black pepper, oregano

METHOD
1. Sweat onions until soft in light olive oil/rapeseed oil
2. Add garlic and sweat for a couple of minutes
3. Chop and add everything else in
4. Add boiling water and stock powder – I like my soup quite salty so around 3-4 very heaped tablespoons does the trick
5. Add seasoning – again, I like quite heavy seasoning so am quite liberal with the cayenne and oregano especially

Bring to boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes, until the water thickens with the broken down potato. Take off the hob, whizz up with a hand blender, check seasoning and then serve with a great big hunk of proper rustic bread.