I know, I know, it’s the middle of summer, yet, here I am with a cozy winter soup recipe. Something doesn’t add up here. Allow me to elaborate: the past 2 weeks have been plagued by heavy rains and violent thunderstorms. It’s cold and windy and I’ve had to resign myself to staying indoors. That is sort of like winter, right?

Whilst I was messing around in the kitchen, my heart was screaming for me to try soup. And why shouldn’t it? There’s nothing better than a warm hug in a bowl, and that’s exactly what this is all about. This wasn’t my first encounter with soup having posted this Spicy butternut and coconut soup a year ago on the blog. My fridge happened to be overflowing with broccoli at this point so I chose to go down that route. Then my imagination got the better of me and I threw in carrots, garlic, peas and some mint just to keep it interesting. You know how it is with me, always got to take it from 0 to 100.

Minty Peas and Broccoli Soup with Cheese Toasties                                     serves 4 

Ingredients

For the soup:

2 tsp olive oil

½ yellow onion, diced

2 gloves garlic, minced

2 cups loosely chopped broccoli, with the stems

1 cup roughly chopped carrots, unskinned

a handful of fresh mint or 1 tsp dried mint

2 cups vegetable stock

½ cup coconut milk + extra for garnish

optional add ins: ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp ginger, 1 tsp cayenne pepper

For the cheese toasties:

2 slices bread, sliced diagonally in half

1 cup cheese, I used a mixture of mozzarella and white cheddar

Method

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on high and fry the onion until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Throw in the broccoli, carrots, mint and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil then season with salt and pepper. Use an immersion blender to puree the vegetables, whilst pouring in the coconut milk. Alternatively, you can add all the contents of the pot to a food processor and pulse until no large chunks of vegetable chunks. Add the coconut milk then pulse again. Taste and season with salt and pepper if required.

Return to the stove and heat on medium until the soup is hot again. If desired, you may serve the soup cold. When serving, drop coconut milk on the surface of the soup and swirl with a toothpick to create a pattern.

To make the cheese toasties: Grate the cheese and distribute it evenly over the sliced bread. Broil/grill the cheese for 7 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbling and is just starting to brown.