Wild Garlic & Broccoli Soup.
So I blinked and Wild Garlic season is almost over. Such is life when dealing with fresh, wild and in season produce. I created this recipe over a month ago and in all honesty meant to post it then. You might just be able to catch a bit of the fresh stuff still as the season typically runs from March-June.
I love going on a country walk and smelling garlic growing wild and free. Although it smells pretty strong out in the wild, it doesn't have as intense a flavour as garlic cloves. When it comes to cooking with wild garlic add the leaves to soups as you would spinach, towards the end of the cooking time so as not to over cook them.
Garlic has antibacterial and antiviral properties as well as vitamins A and C plus minerals calcium and iron.
Wild Garlic & Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 stick celery, chopped
- 380g Purple sprouting broccoli, roughly chopped
- 50g or handful of wild garlic, roughly chopped
- 470ml vegetable stock
- 350ml almond milk
- 2tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt to taste
- Handful of pecans to garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over a medium heat. Sauté the onion and celery for around 3-4mins.
- Add the broccoli, vegetable broth and almond milk and bring to a simmer
- Cover and gently simmer for a further 10mins or until the broccoli is softened. Be careful not to let it boil as this could make the almond milk taste bitter.
- Put the pecans into a skillet pan and toast over a medium heat until nicely browned. Don't leave them unattended as they may burn quite quickly!
- Remove soup from the heat and take out a couple of cooked broccoli florets to use as a garnish for your dish. Add salt to taste.
- Add the wild garlic leaves then allow the soup to cool a little before blending in a high speed blender or with a handheld.
- If eating immediately, re-heat gently in a saucepan then serve garnished with the toasted pecans, broccoli florets and a swirl of olive oil.