Old English Summer Soup

This is a helpful recipe for gardeners whose summer crop of vegetables threatens to overwhelm them. If you like, you can serve this soup cold in chilled bowls in really hot weather. Either way, it's a lovely soup to serve on a summer's day.

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This recipe first appeared in The Delia Collection: Soup.

Method

First of all, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter gently, then add the potatoes, spring onions, lettuce and cucumber. Stir everything round in the butter then, keeping the heat very low, put a lid on and let everything sweat for 10 minutes. Now pour in the stock, stir, add some salt and freshly milled black pepper and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat to low, put the lid on and let it simmer gently for another 20 minutes.

Leave the soup to cool a little, then puree the whole lot in a blender. If you need to do this in two batches, it is helpful to have a bowl to hand to put the first batch in. Finally, check the seasoning, gently re-heat the soup and serve it with the freshly snipped chives stirred in at the last moment or sprinkle a few into each bowl.