Sommerliche Gemüsesuppe (summer vegetable soup)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
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
Method
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.