Wild Garlic Soup

This Wild Garlic Soup is simple to make and full of fresh seasonal flavours. Every year when wild garlic season comes about make as much as we can to eat fresh and as much as extra as we can fit in the freezer. It doesn't matter how much we make though, it's never enough.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: lunch, seasonal, starters

Cuisine: Vegan

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 6

Total Time: 11

Servings:

Calories: 280kcal

Author: Yasmin

Equipment

High Speed Blender (or hand held)
Saucepan (large)
Sharp Knife

Ingredients

Wild Garlic Soup

⅛ cup Vegan Butter
4 Cloves Garlic
4 Shallots we used Banana/Echalion Shallots
2 Medium White Potatoes
1 Lemon all the Zest and ½ the Juice
½ cup Chopped Fresh Thyme This is about a handful when unchopped
3 Vegetable Stock Cubes
2.5 cups Washed and Drained Wild Garlic Buds or Flowers as well as Leaves is fine
½ teaspoon Black Pepper
½ teaspoon Salt (Optional)
1.5 litre Boiling Water

Cashew Cream

½ cup Raw Cashew Nuts
150 ml Water

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Put the Saucepan on a medium heat and add the Vegan Butter to the pan.
⅛ cup Vegan Butter
Peel & roughly chop the Shallots & the Garlic cloves ands add them to the pan and stir together. Then stir every 30 seconds or so to prevent burning. This needs a few minutes like this for the shallots and garlic to sweat down and soften nicely.
4 Cloves Garlic, 4 Shallots
Whilst the shallots and Garlic cloves are sweating down, Peel & Roughly chop the Potatoes, into about 1cm cubes. Then add to the pan once the Shallots are translucent.
2 Medium White Potatoes
Chop the Thyme and add to the pan, then stir.
½ cup Chopped Fresh Thyme
Fill the kettle to 1.5 litres and then boil. Then add the boiling water to the pan.
1.5 litre Boiling Water
Add the Salt and Pepper to the saucepan. The amounts I have put are personal preference, seasoning is optional though.
½ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
Crumble in the Stock cubes and stir.
3 Vegetable Stock Cubes
Add the zest of a Lemon.
1 Lemon
Add the juice of ½ a Lemon.
Put a lid on the pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
Roughly Chop the Wild Garlic and then add it to the pan (once it has been simmering for 10 minutes) then put the lid back on and simmer for another 2 minutes, before taking off of the heat and removing the lid.
2.5 cups Washed and Drained Wild Garlic
If using a hand blender then this can be done in the saucepan straight away, whilst the soup is hot. NB: If making a batch to be reheated later, you can blend in a normal blender or a food processor but make sure to wait until the soup ingredients have cooled to room temperature before transferring to the blender that you are using.
Put the Raw Cashew Nuts and 150ml of cold water into a high speed blender and blend until a smooth, 'single cream' consistency Cashew Cream.
½ cup Raw Cashew Nuts, 150 ml Water
Pour ⅔ of the Cashew Cream into the soup and stir through. Pour the remainder of the Cashew Cream into a jug to be used to add a swirl to the bowls when served.
Serve: Ladle out into bowls, add a swirl of Cashew Cream to each and enjoy.

Notes

By leaving the un-blended soup to cool, and then transferring to a high speed blender such as a Vitamix or Ninja, the result is a much silkier soup than if blended in the saucepan using a hand blender. It doesn't need to be cold to be transferred, just cooled enough to be safe. We leave ours to cool down for about 10 minutes or so before transferring to the blender.

Also be sure not to overfill your blender, its fine not to be able to blend all the soup in one go

Just remember, when all the soup is blended, to return all of it to a saucepan and stir it together again so as to make sure that the flavour is consistent through the whole batch.

Nutrition