Soup - the Food of the Gods, or the people, or whatever. Soup is my favourite thing in the world. Feeling down? Soup. In a rush? Soup. Mother coming over for lunch? Soup. Full of cold? Soup. You get my drift.
If you're like me and you go a bit wild when picking wild garlic, obviously not harvesting entire forests but you know, filling your bag with a little more than you might eat that day, then batch cooking soup for the freezer is the PERFECT way to harness all that goodness for later in the month. Believe me, you'll thank me when you get that spring cold and you need a boost of Vitamin C and something to warm your cockles while you lie on the sofa binge watching Netflix. Ahem...
This is like a super charged Leek and Potato soup. You can make it vegan, vegetarian or add some homemade chicken stock to the pot to give you that extra nudge of grandma goodness.
It's so simple.
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 carrier bag full of wild garlic washed and roughly chopped (for this recipe you can use the later leaves which are less tender than the first shoots)
About 5 medium sized potatoes peeled and cut into 1/8ths - any variety will do but I love a good Desiree
1 large onion chopped
Olive oil or butter
1 litre stock - this kind of depends on how thick you want your soup, I like mine to be drinkable but not watery.
Chili flakes & freshly ground pepper to taste
Natural yogurt for serving (optional)
Method
Gently fry your onion and potato in your butter or oil until the onions are translucent. Add your black pepper.
Add the stock and cook until the potatoes begin to soften.
Add the chopped wild garlic and cook for until wilted.
Remove from the heat and batch process in a blender, transferring the soup to a separate container when done.
Now, you can either return to the pan to eat now or simply leave to cool then pour into individual portions ready for the freezer. I find that a 500g spreadable butter tub is the perfect size for a hearty lunch.
To serve
Swirl in a tablespoon of greek yogurt, sprinkle with chili flakes and serve with a nice crusty bit of home baked bread warm from the oven.