Nothing beats a warming, nourishing bowl of broth on a winter’s day.
And this one certainly satisfies on that front. Full of delicious seasonal vegetables from the garden, along with a stock made from our own organic chicken, along with an extra flourish using little used chervil to make an interesting twist on a pesto.
Serves 2
Start by heating a suitable lidded pan over a low to medium heat. Add a little oil, and add the diced onion, leek, celery and carrot, along with a good pinch of salt. Sweat these for around 5-10 minutes in a covered pan. Then add the diced turnip and radish, chopped hard herbs and sliced mushrooms, again adding a little pinch of salt. They should soften, smell fantastic, but not really take on much colour, you want them to retain some body and not become mushy.
Make a version of pesto by blending the chervil and toasted seeds with enough oil to create a characteristic pesto consistency, adding salt and a squeeze of lemon to taste.
Add the stock to just cover the soup ingredients and bring to a simmer. Taste for seasoning at this point. Cook only for as long as is needed to finish the vegetables off. Add the shredded cavalo / swish chard for the final minute of the cooking.
Then pour into bowls and top with a spoon of the ‘pesto’ and a drizzle more olive oil.
Winter in the Cotswolds is a season of retreat and refuge. Fields lie pale beneath the cold sky, villages seem suspended in stillness and a rare sense of calm and quiet descends over the landscape.
