Watercress, Soyabean and Pesto Soup
We haven't tried making a new soup in a long time, even though we have 3 books of recipes and both of us enjoy a good bowl of soup. So the other day, I dug out the book Soup for all Occasions and hunted for a quick and simple one that would appeal to us. V loves watercress, and we just happen to have a packet of green soyabeans in the freezer, so this recipe just jumped out at me, begging to be made.
As usual, we started off with the basics, chopped garlic and onions. Spring onions this time.
When the onions had sweated down a bit, and had started becoming a pearly translucent, threw in a whole bunch of the green soyabeans, fresh out of the freezer.
Added some stock (we added chicken stock, but I guess veggie stock or even just plain water would do fine) and brought the mixture to a nice bubble. As soon as the beans were soft, in went a whole bunch of fresh watercress.
This was then brought to a boil and simmered for a few minutes. The result was a pleasing mixture of greens of different shades and textures, floating in a light broth.
Now this was almost good enough to eat as is. But only almost. We dug out the old hand-mixer and blended the soup right in the pan, ending up with a light-green thick soup, flecked with bits of dark green. Stirred in a couple of teaspoons of green pesto, and provided the finishing touches by adding some dry-roasted pine nuts.
Now to make meal of it, we pan-fried some sea bass fillets and toasted some ciabatta rolls.
And finally,the soup was served. Watercress, soyabean and pesto soup accompanied with Onion & Herb Ciabatta and herb-crusted sea bass.
