Summer Greens Soup with Lardons Recipe

Ingredients

1 onion
1 carrot
1 courgette
1 garlic clove
200g rainbow chard
200g unsmoked lardons
150g pearl barley
1 chicken stock cube
200g runner beans
A handful of basil leaves
A handful of mint leaves
1 lemon
2 tbsp crème fraîche

Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 35 mins

Buy the ingredients to start making your own

Add Ingredients To Basket

Method

1. Peel and finely chop the onion and carrot. Dice the courgette. Peel and grate the garlic. Separate the chard leaves and stalks. Finely slice the stalks, trimming away any dry ends, and roughly chop the leaves.

2. Pour1 tbsp olive oil into a large pan and warm over a medium heat. Add the lardons and fry for 3-4 mins, turning occasionally, till golden on all sides.

3. Slide in the onion, carrot, courgette, garlic and chard stalks. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry, stirring often, for a further 5 mins till the veg are glossy.

4. Tip the barley into the pan and pour in 1 ltr water. Crumble in the stock cube and stir well. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook gently for 20 mins.

5. While the soup simmers, trim the woody ends form the runner beans and finely slice them. After 20 mins, dd the runner beans and chard leaves to the pan and stir well. Cook for a further 2 mins, lid off the pan (this helps keep the beans green).

6. Roughly chop the basil and mint leaves and stir most of them through the soup. Grate in the zest from the lemon.

7. Ladle the soup into two warm bowls. Top with the remaining herbs and a dollop of crème fraîche. Serve with wedges of the zested lemon on the side for squeezing.