This recipe came about thanks to some slightly sad looking parsnips and leeks sitting in the bottom of my fridge and seeing a recipe for a green soup which I didn’t have the quite right ingredients for. Thus a bit of improvisation which led to a very yummy new recipe – even sceptical hubby who does not like green soup had to admit it was very tasty.

Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 leeks, trimmed and sliced
- 2 litres of vegetable stock
- 3 medium sized parsnips, peeled and chopped into rough chunks (3-4 cm)
- ½ head of broccoli, roughly chopped (use all but the tough ends of the stems)
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 2 large handfuls of kale or spinach
- 3 tablespoons ground almonds (optional)
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
- Small handful parsley leaves roughly chopped
- Small handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the leeks for about 5 minutes. Add the stock to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the parsnips and broccoli and cook for 20-25 minutes until the parsnip starts to soften. Add the frozen peas and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the kale or spinach, ground almonds (if using), lemon rind, the mint and parsley leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes until the kale or spinach is wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Using a hand-held stick blender, carefully blend the soup until smooth. Serve straight away with some toasted sourdough or rye bread. Swirl through some greek yoghurt for added flavour.