courgette, lemon thyme and gem lettuce summer soup

… influenced by our recent sojourn to Spain, The Viking and I were discussing the merits of cold soup.  The Spanish have their wonderful gazpacho, packed with fruity tomatoes, garlic and peppers it’s a great and easy way to eat a healthy bowl of summer flavours… of course the French have something similar in vichyssoise and the humble leek and potato is one of my favourite cold soups… I adore making cold pea soup – oh there’s something wonderfully sweet about the little pea that makes a cold soup taste so divinely moreish…  but it’s funny how, in the summer months, dishes like soup get neglected.  To be honest, who wants a bowl of steaming hot liquid… but in fact I love soup in the summer.  Cold or hot, it’s a great way to get those essential veg into your diet and if you treat them right, don’t over cook anything and keep it really simple you can easily serve up a glorious bowl of summer…

courgette, lemon thyme and gem lettuce summer soup
if you don’t grow lemon thyme I urge you to try and hunt some down and grow it… even if all you have is a windowsill there’s always room for a little pot of this glorious herb.  It does everything regular thyme does but it has an added bonus of a fresh zesty lemon scent so even in the darkest depths of winter you can add the zing of summer to any dish… it goes really well with many chicken dishes and it perks up all kinds of fish dishes really well without being too overbearing.  It’s in flower at the moment and the little pale lilac flowers are edible and so pretty sprinkled onto your finished dish… the lemon thyme is part of a medley of flavours here but they make their presence known in a subtle under-current of lemon and thyme in this glorious summer soup packed with my favourite ‘allotment’ veg… you can throw anything in here but be careful not to overcrowd the bowl, you want to be able to taste those lovely fresh vegetables…

1 bunch (6 or 7 stems) of spring onions – roughly chopped, keeping much of the green
2 courgette – roughly chopped
8 or 9 stems of purple sprouting broccoli – roughly chopped
a large handful of spinach
100g peas – fresh or frozen
1 gem lettuce – roughly chopped
1 litre good quality vegetable stock
butter and olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon thyme
salt and pepper

in a large pan or skillet on a medium heat, gently melt some butter and a little olive oil, then throw in the onions and courgettes, toss them around and let them sweat for a minute or two

add the peas and broccoli, stir and let them also cook off for another 2 minutes

add the rest of the veg and the fresh lemon thyme, stir and place the lid on.  Turn the heat down to low and let the veg sweat away for roughly 5 mins

add the stock and let the soup gently simmer for 8 minutes… let the soup cool for a couple of minutes before serving

linking up with no croutons required hosted by Lisa from Lisa’s Kitchen and Jaq from Tinned Tomatoes and also linking up with extra veg hosted by Michelle from Utterly Scrummy and Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and of course i’m also linking it to the brilliant eat your greens bloggers challenge hosted by Shaheen over at A2K

eat and of course, enjoy!