St David's Day leeky spring soup
How to convert traditional soups into Daniel Plan favorites.
Daniel Plan doesn't deal with potatoes. You can imagine how that upset me when I set off on the healthy path, because we Brits are incredibly proud of the humble tatty that we brought back from the New World. My mother's side of the family are Irish and potato is as part of that heritage as folk music and strong white tea. The Welsh also love a potato, especially when used to showcase their national emblem, the leek, in a hearty stew or soup. This recipe offers the second recipe variety, with an option to convert into something meatier.
According to the internet, and the BBC, the Welsh have loved leeks since at least the 16th Century. There are records of Welsh members of the English royal households attaching leeks to their clothing on St David's day. The bill for these decorative items was put on the household expenses. Today, the leek is worn by Wales fans at national rugby matches, continuing a 500 year tradition that perhaps has even deeper origins. There are claims the common man's heraldry was initiated by St David himself. St David was a Welsh bishop of the 6th century and was canonised long after his death. The saying St David is best known for is:
“Do the little things that you have seen me do and heard about. Do ye the little things in life.”
A great rule for diet as for any other arena. Bishop St David's diet itself was probably quite severe. I have liberated us from the rule with this contemporary recipe!
Use starchy vegetables and carbohydrate-rich beans with silky oats to replace the potato flavour.
Here is my interpretation of 'leek and potato soup', an attempt to showcase the strong onion flavour of the leek and match it with robust flavours that have a starchy, potato taste without any of the actual potato, which is known to spike the glycamic index.
Adaption friendly!
You can turn this spring soup recipe into a Welsh cawl with the addition of lamb, and it would be perfect to adapt for a slow cooker. My budget doesn't run to lamb, so I haven't. You could also serve this as a first course before a roast lamb meal because of the rosemary in it, which complements Welsh lamb, our national dish.
Ingredients
2 cans of borlotti beans or 400g of pre soaked and cooked dried beans (you can soak them, cook them and freeze them in bulk)
2 leeks
1 small carrot or ½ a large one
1 sweet potato
1 yellow pepper
200 ml of milk
400 ml of vegetable (or chicken) stock
4 tablespoons of oats
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1 ½ teaspoons of dried thyme
A small knob of butter
1 clove of crushed garlic
1 bayleaf
To finish the soup
up to 400 ml of extra hot water (to get your preferred consistency)
A grating of sharp cheese, such as cheddar
A drizzle of olive oil
Pre-steps and short cuts
In this recipe you can:
- grill the yellow pepper to enhance the flavour
- pre-soak dried borlotti beans and cook them ready to add at the end
- pre-bake the sweet potato in the microwave for the best sweetness and flavour (I did this the night before and let it chill, then I slipped the skin off and chopped it up)
Or you can take the following short cuts:
- SHORTCUT 1: roast your yellow peppers in the microwave by placing in a glass dish covered by clingfilm. Vent. Set the timer on high for 6-7 minutes and then let sit another 3 minutes. Remove skins and proceed with recipe.
- SHORTCUT 2: Use canned Borlotti beans
- SHORTCUT 3: Bake sweet potato while you grill the peppers (or after you have microwaved them) and then rapidly chill in cold water before taking the skins off
METHOD
Wash and quarter the yellow pepper, removing all green material and membranes. Place under a hot grill and grill 6-10 minutes or until black.
While the peppers are grilling, if you have not baked your sweet potato ahead, then wash it, prick it with a fork all over, put it in a glass bowl, cover with cling film and vent. Put in the microwave on high power for 8-10 minutes depending on its size. You won't need this again till the end of the recipe, you can leave it in the fridge to cool. Chill it by plunging into cold water first.
Now the rest of the vegetables. Peel and dice the carrot. Wash and then slice leeks into coins, trimming off the green or very dirty parts.
Get a large pan the leeks won't stick to. Add a small know of butter. Season the leeks with salt and pepper. Make sure that there is enough fat that the leeks will not catch because burnt leeks are very bitter.
Heat the leeks on a medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, for 3-5 minutes. Add diced carrot to leek and butter mixture and cook out for 5 minutes, or until carrot and leeks are both soft.
Add 400 ml of vegetable (or chicken) stock. I use Swiss Bullion powder because it has no added sugar. To thicken the soup measure 4 tablespoons of wholegrain oats and add to the pan.
Add 2 teaspoons of wholegrain mustard, preferably a variety without sugar in the ingredients and then 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar. Crush a clove of garlic and add this with a bay leaf (please remove bay leaf before blending soup).
Your pepper should now be out the grill and cool enough handle. If not run under cold water. Now de-skin and remove the black parts of the pepper, chop roughly, and add to the pan. If you haven't grilled peppers before, you'll find the flesh of the pepper turns brown, however it will taste lovely and sweet. (Don't worry about this discolouration because later you'll blend the soup.)
Now leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the oats have thickened the soup. The soup will be thick at this point. Be careful it doesn't stick to the pan. Please check the garlic at the end of this time. It's important that it's soft because now you are going to blend the soup and softer garlic has a milder flavour and will not overpower the veggies.
Take a hand blender and roughly blend the soup in the pan. Make sure you blitz the garlic completely and any yellow pepper. You can leave the soup with chunks in, in fact it looks better like this, and more interesting and rustic.
Add 200 ml of milk of your choice. I used low-fat cow's milk. Simmer on a low heat for a further 5-10 minutes to give the milk time to absorb the flavours (you don't need to bring the milk to a boil just cook it gently and slowly until bubbles start to break the surface.)
Add your Borlotti beans to the pan and cook for 3 minutes, stirring until well combined. Add 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary and 1 ½ teaspoons of dried thyme. Then dice your sweet potato roughly (it will break up in the pan anyway) and add that. Simmer for 2 minutes while stirring to combine the herbs, beans and veg.
Adjust the flavour of your soup with black pepper to taste and add up to 400 ml of water until the consistency is fairly thin. This soup should not be a rib sticker.
To finish the soup: drizzle over a small amount of extra virgin of olive oil. Pour into bowls and sprinkle each serving with a grating of sharp cheddar cheese.
I hope you enjoy this humble, budget friendly dish. Happy St David's Day! And if you try it, or if thickening a soup with wholegrain oats is new to you, then please let me know in the comments!