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Spring vegetable soup with basil pesto

Two Susan Jung recipes using spring vegetables

These recipes mean you can enjoy the season's bounty whatever the weather

Text Susan Jung / Photography Jonathan Wong / Styling Nellie Ming Lee

 

Spring in Hong Kong is hard to gauge: one day it's hot and humid, the next you regret putting away the winter blankets. So trying to figure out what to cook at this time of year can be difficult - by the time you get around to preparing a meal, the weather may no longer suit the ingredients you have bought. These two recipes use nearly the same ingredients, but while one is warming, the other is more like a cooked, hearty salad.

 

This recipe is just a guideline - the light soup can be adapted to use whatever fresh young vegetables you can find in the markets. You can find fresh fava beans at shops that specialise in ingredients imported from Shanghai.

 

Remove and discard the fava bean pods. If using fresh peas in pods, remove the pods. Bring a large pot of water to the boil and stir in a handful of salt. Add the fava beans then bring to the boil and simmer for about two minutes. Use a slotted skimmer to scoop the favas from the water then drain them, rinse with cold water and drain again. Use the same water to blanch the other vegetables: bring the water to the boil, add the peas and the asparagus spears. Cook for one minute then scoop them from the water and drain, then rinse with cold water and drain again. Heat the water again and cook the carrots for two minutes before draining, rinsing with cold water and draining again. Remove the tough membrane from the fava beans. Cut the zucchini into 6mm cubes, halve the cherry tomatoes and thinly slice the fennel bulb.

Make the pesto. Put the pine nuts in a pan, place it over a low flame and cook, stirring almost constantly, until the nuts are very lightly toasted. Cool to room temperature. Put the basil leaves in a food processor and add the garlic, pine nuts and half a teaspoon of salt. Pulse until the basil is roughly chopped. Add the parmesan cheese and, with the motor running, add about 60ml of olive oil through the feed tube. Add more oil until the pesto is the right consistency, processing the ingredients to a rough purée. Taste the pesto and mix in more cheese and/or salt, if needed, then scrape into a small bowl and cover with cling-film.

Heat the stock in a pan and when it simmers, season it to taste with salt. Add the vegetables according to how long they need to cook: the carrots and zucchini first, the asparagus and fava beans next, then the fennel and cherry tomatoes and, finally, the peas.

Ladle the soup into four to six bowls and top each portion with a spoonful of pesto. Serve immediately.

 

As with the first recipe, you can change the ingredients to use whatever you find in the market. Good additions/substitutions would be young radishes, small artichokes (quartered and blanched), pearl onions (peeled and blanched) and ramps (they are hard to find in Hong Kong, but a few wet market vendors carry them).

Remove the fava beans from their pods then blanch and peel them as in the first recipe. Blanch the carrots and asparagus as in the first recipe. Cut the zucchini into long matchsticks. Thinly slice the fennel bulb. Cut the spring onions into 4cm lengths. Finely chop the anchovies.

Heat the olive oil and 20 grams of the butter in a large skillet. Add the carrots to the pan, sprinkle lightly with salt, then sauté for about one minute, or until hot. Add the asparagus and cook for another minute, then stir in the zucchini, fennel, spring onion and anchovies. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are crisp-tender but not mushy. Taste for seasonings and add salt (if needed) and black pepper. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining butter, the lemon zest and lemon juice. Serve immediately.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Spring is sprung
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