This may sound like a peculiar combination of ingredients, but you’ve gotta trust me on this one. I was at the store and started grabbing everything I could find in season off the shelves. I didn’t have any particular recipe in mind – I just wanted something fresh and Spring-y.
I don’t use lettuce in cooked soups very often, but the butter lettuce here adds a sweet, subtle flavor. All of the flavors of these vegetables are quite subtle and combine to make an almost floral-tasting soup.
The pine nuts add something special. Soaking them for an hour and pureeing them with almond milk and coconut oil makes a wonderful creamy base for the soup. It might seem like I’m using too many pine nuts, but soaking them mellows out their flavor so they don’t overpower the other ingredients. Pine nuts are a bit pricey. I found them at Trader Joe’s for $7.99 for a half pound. If you’d rather not spend all that cash on pine nuts, feel free to use two cups of dairy cream (for vegetarian) or a vegan cream.
Ingredients (serves 8)
8 ounce package of pine nuts (soaked for 1 hour)
1 cup almond milk
4 cups water
1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 head Boston (butter) lettuce (carefully washed)
1 cup roughly chopped spring onions
2 cloves garlic – chopped
1 medium zucchini – quartered and thinly sliced (about 1½ cups)
1 cup roughly chopped parsley
¼ cup chopped basil
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon herb de provence
1 – 1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Directions
1. In a soup pot, saute the onions, garlic and herb de provence in 1 tablespoon coconut oil over medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add in the water, peas and zucchini. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
3. While soup is cooking, place the soaked pine nuts in a high speed blender or food processor with the almond milk and blend until pureed. Set aside.
4. Add the lettuce, parsley and basil to the soup and let simmer another 3 – 5 minutes until the greens are wilted and bright green in color.
5. Place the pot in the sink and puree using an immersion/hand blender starting on the lowest speed and working up to the highest — beware of splatters! You could also use a food processor or blender by dividing the soup into batches and blending separately. Then place everything back in the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve warm or chilled.
Kristine says
I’m so happy I found your website. I’ve been a Pescetarian for 5 years now and recently hit the wall. I cannot stand the thought of eating one more piece of fish. But I need hot food to feel satisfied at dinner. I have discovered your soup recipes and am in love! I can keep my vegetarian lifestyle – and skip fish until I’m over my hate. Just made this soup, and it is lovely and light and nicely balanced. One note – your recipe doesn’t say when to add in the pine nuts/almond milk mixture. I did it during the blending. Would you recommend a different time? Thanks!
Amy says
Hi Kristine: I’m so glad you’re finding my blog helpful – means the world to me! And yes, you add in the pine nuts and almond milk right before blending. I hope you can find some other recipes here to help you transition from a pescetarian diet. Good luck and thanks so much for stopping by!