Sommerliche Gemüsesuppe (summer vegetable soup)
A light, brothy soup built on quick-cooking summer vegetables, courgette, green beans, sweetcorn and tomato, kept in distinct pieces rather than blended, so the whole thing stays fresh and vegetal rather than turning into a heavy purée. Everything goes in at a slightly different time so nothing overcooks by the time the slowest vegetable is done.
Prep20 min
Cook25 min
Servings4
Christoph's summer vegetable soup, everything staggered in so the vegetables stay distinct and freshly cooked rather than blended into mush.
Ingredients
Written for a 3 L pot
Units
Temperature
Servings
Soup
- 150 g onion, finely chopped rounded
- 1 garlic clove rounded
- 30 ml olive oil rounded
- 150 g carrot, peeled, diced small rounded
- 900 ml vegetable broth rounded
- 200 g zucchini, diced rounded
- 150 g green beans, trimmed, in 2 cm pieces rounded
- 200 g ripe tomatoes, diced rounded
- 100 g sweetcorn, fresh or frozen rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
- 15 g fresh basil, torn, at the table (optional) rounded
Dietary labels are a guide, not a guarantee. If you have an allergy, read the ingredients yourself.
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion and garlic for 4 minutes, until softened.
- Add the carrot and broth. Bring to a simmer and cook 8 minutes, until the carrot begins to soften.
- Add the zucchini and green beans. Simmer 8 minutes, until tender but still holding a slight bite.
- Add the tomato and sweetcorn. Simmer a final 4 minutes, just to warm through and soften the tomato slightly, not to break it down completely.
- Season with salt and pepper. Scatter with torn basil at the table.
Notes
- Add the vegetables in stages rather than all at once. Courgette and green beans finish cooking faster than carrot, and tomato needs barely any time at all; staggering the additions keeps everything at the right texture instead of some pieces turning to mush while others stay raw.
- This is a light, quick soup best made when the vegetables are actually in season. Out of season, the tomato and courgette especially lose most of the flavour that makes this worth making.
- Do not blend this soup. Distinct pieces of vegetable in a light broth are the entire point; blending it turns it into a different, heavier dish.
- It keeps for 3 days in the fridge, though the vegetables soften further on reheating, so it is best fresh.
Ingredient substitutions
- Green beans can be sugar snap peas, added in the last few minutes since they cook even faster.
- Sweetcorn can be fresh, cut straight from the cob, which gives a sweeter flavour than frozen.
- A handful of small pasta shapes, cooked separately and added at the end, turns this into a heartier minestrone-style soup.
From Christoph Mayer