Food columnist: Go green with a recipe for healthy soup of chard and chives

By Wendy Barrie

November 15 2020, 9:00am

Wendy Barrie is founder of the Scottish Food Guide and regularly contributes to The Courier’s food and drink magazine, The Menu

Green soup this time – warming, tasty and vegetarian, if you want it that way! Soups are great for stretching the budget, warming the cockles and nourishing all at once.

Be it a chunky vegetable broth or a silky smooth cream soup; a steaming bowlful at the kitchen table or a hot mug cupped in your mittens out-of-doors on a crisp frosty day.

Today’s potage is chard and chives, both plentiful in our kitchen garden at this time of year.

Quick and easy soup recipe

It is so quick and easy to prepare – a favourite of ours with homemade croutons and a swirl of cream. If you have some homemade chicken or lamb stock, then use it or sometimes I have leftover dripping, giving a meaty essence to the base instead of the oil however it is delicious as a vegetarian soup too by simply adding a few extra herbs with your liquid – never a stock cube – along with a little chilli if you wish added zing.

Simply prepare a large bowlful of chard by removing the stalks and slicing them as you would celery.
Sauté them on a medium heat with a drizzle of Scottish rapeseed oil and a knob of butter, season and stir until softened.
Roughly shred the leaves, snip a handful of chives and add to the pan.
Pour over 2 cups of boiling water from the kettle (or stock where applicable), sufficient to cook the chard.
Simmer with lid on for 5 minutes. When cooked, add approx. 200mls milk and blend the soup until smooth.
Taste and adjust seasoning. Return to hob to heat through, without boiling, and stir in a generous splash of cream. Add a little more milk if necessary to adjust consistency.
To make your croutons, heat a drizzle of oil with a further 50g butter and add cut cubes of bread when the oil is hot.
Keep the pan moving to toast the bread quickly at a reasonably high temperature. Add a little more butter and oil depending on your quantity of croutons! Serve in warmed bowls with that swirl of cream, scatter of croutons and enjoy!

Scottish Thistle Award Regional Ambassador (2018/19) for Central, Tayside & Fife

Founder & Director of award-winning www.scottishfoodguide.scot & www.scottishcheesetrail.com Leader in Scotland for Slow Food Ark of Taste & Member of Slow Food Cooks Alliance.