5 minute SPRING-TIME SOUP - nettle, pea & watercress soup with OLIVE BREAD -

 I seem to be having the urge to eat lots of green things.  Like I don't have enough green in my life right now, surrounded by fields and trees! 

Last summer I frequently made this soup, its very simple to make and it is light and has lots of layers of flavour.  The sun is making everything grow at a rapid rate and the nettles were calling.  I was happy to get reacquainted with this tasty soup.

This serves 4 ..

Pick the top, freshest part of wild nettle,(use gloves or hold the stem firmly to prevent the needle like hairs 'stinging' you) about 20 plants should do it.  Carefully remove the leaves and wash to add to other ingredients...

• 500g frozen garden peas.
• 250g watercress/spinach.
• 1 med onion (or a bunch of scallion/salad onions).
• 1 vegan, yeast-free stock cube.
• 1 garlic clove.
• 1 - 2 tsp whole grain mustard (I make my own..1:2 fresh ground mustard seeds/tbs apple cider vinegar.
• 1 tsp ground black pepper.
• pink salt to taste  - I use about 3 generous pinches.

The beauty of this soup is that it literally takes minutes and is such an eye popping vivid green, it impresses easily AND tastes fantastic.  It is also really light and exciting with fresh mint.

The quickest method is to boil a kettle full of water (about 2- 2 1/2  pints)  roughly cut up the scallions, pop in the whole garlic clove with the frozen peas, the nettles, watercress/spinach, mustard and stock/seasonings, pour on the boiling water, bring back to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  I use a hand blender to blend to a soup..add more water if needed (not too much as will dilute the flavour).  (If you want to use onions, instead of scallions then you will need to chop and fry them first in oil until golden, this will add 5-8mins to the time) That's it your done...serve and slurp noisily from your spoon!

Do you want to make the olive bread too?...yey!  I made the BASIC RECIPE first and then, after poking around in the fridge, elected to add olives.

Basic Recipe

Equal amounts of any of the following;  brown rice flour, coconut flour (low carb), quinoa flour (high protein), kamut/ spelt flour (some find more easily digested than wheat..me for one).  Choose 2 plus 1/2 cup ground flax For this recipe I used

1 cup coconut /brown rice/quinoa flours

1/2 cup freshly milled flax

1 tbs mixed herbs

2 tsp ACV

1 tsp Himalayan salt

A little something extra...2 tbs chopped black olives.   *instead of the olives you could use sun dried tomatoes infused with garlic in oil. 

Sift flours into a bowl, add other ingredients then enough water to create a batter like consistency (you do not have to be too precise as the cooking process will absorb or evaporate the water...)  Mix well then pour into lightly oiled tins (aim for approx 3/4 inch deep...note, it doesn't rise) and pop it into a hot over @ 175 degrees for approx 20 mins.  Poke the centre with a knife to see if it comes clean (it may stick a little if you use the brown rice flour due the starch).  Remove to a cooling rack...or if you are like me, don't wait and rub a garlic clove on it and slather with vegan 'butter'.   

I love this bread, it has no yeast, its vegan and low fat and has a good level of low GI.  If you use the coconut flour then it is low in carbs too.  What you put on top of it is up to you!