Leftovers Green soup
Growing Communities (GC) is an East London social enterprise on a mission to build a better food system that’s fair to people and kind to the planet. They run a vegbox scheme, a farmers’ market and small farms around London and they’re nurturing a network of greener grocers across the UK, the Better Food Traders.
GC help their local community find the joy in eating with the seasons, cooking up a storm with leftovers and embracing the less-loved parts of vegetables. This delicious and decadent-tasting soup, created for GC by plant-powered chef Kali Hamm, features cauliflower leaves, broccoli stalks or whatever green trimmings you have to hand.
Don’t want to throw out your off-cuts from kale or cauliflower? Cooked too many greens for dinner? With a little tweak, you can have a gorgeous soup! Here we also used the stalks from fresh coriander that hold so much flavour but are often thrown out. Stale or old bread makes great breadcrumbs and croutons.
Makes 2 large bowls, or 4 smaller ones.
INGREDIENTS
For the garlic breadcrumbs:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
75g old bread
Generous grind of black pepper
For the soup:
350g broccoli stalks, cauliflower leaves, kale stems or cooked greens*
1 shallot or small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
25g coriander stalks
600ml water
Juice ½ lemon
50g spinach
100ml olive oil
2 tbsp nutritional yeast – optional
Big pinch salt and pepper to taste
METHOD
To make the breadcrumbs, blitz bread in a food processor for a minute or so. Heat a large frying pan, add the oil, breadcrumbs, garlic and pepper. Cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring and keeping an eye on them so the garlic doesn’t burn. Set aside.
If you prefer croutons, heat oven to 170C. Cut the bread into 2cm pieces, coat with a drizzle of oil. Roast for about 10 minutes until crispy but not hard.
For the soup, heat the oil in a medium pan on medium heat, then add the shallot or onion, cook for a minute, add the garlic, cook for another minute.
Add the vegetables except the spinach, add water to just cover then cook on a gentle simmer for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender but still green.
Transfer to your blender along with the rest of your ingredients and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Blend on high speed (although start on a low speed or you’ll have soup on your walls!) until smooth and creamy. Add a little more water if you think it needs it. Serve topped with your breadcrumbs or croutons, a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of pepper or chilli flakes.
* If you’re using leftover cooked vegetables, just add them at the blending stage.