Lettuce Soup

Always a good talking point – the now famous lettuce soup.

Soups are easy to make but not so easy to make really well. The trick with a good soup is to have a depth of flavour. What this means for us is that the soup should be dominated by the core flavour but should also have hints of other complementary flavours along with the degree of depth.

We think that The secret to a good soup is the stock because it is the stock which provides the base.

Now much of the time in our normal day to day cooking, we will use instant stock in the form of powder or gels which are available in the supermarket but for the supper club we prefer to make our own stock. It is an easy thing to do if you have the time and it does make a big difference.

Inevitably every cookbook and chef have their own preferred vegetable stock recipe. For this recipe we will use the recipe a version recommended by Gordon Ramsey and a very similar one by Marcus Waring and since they have many Michelin stars between them, we can be confident that it will work!

In fact, making vegetable stock is one of the few times we can approach the way things are done in a starred restaurant because we are essentially boiling vegetables for a short time. 

There are two phases to making this soup – both very simple. The first is to make the stock which means preparing then boiling various vegetables. Ideally, we then leave the stock overnight for the flavours to meld together but if that is not practical for you then you can make the stock first thing in the morning and leave it for the flavours to develop over the course of the day. 

The second phase is to make the soup itself by combining the main soup ingredients with the stock.

You can make the soup early in the day if you prefer and then gently warm it prior to serving or you can leave soup making till much later in the day. The soup only needs 20 minutes to simmer before you blend it so not much time.

Aim to make the stock the night before or first thing in the morning. The idea is to allow the stock to infuse and the flavours to develop before straining out the vegetables.

Lettuce Soup

Course: Soups
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

45

minutes
Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

  • For the vegetable stock:
  • 2 2 leeks

  • 4 4 medium carrots

  • 2 2 medium onions

  • 2 2 celery sticks

  • 2 2 garlic cloves

  • 0.5 tsp 1/8 fl oz coriander seeds

  • 0.25 tsp 0.25 peppercorns

  • 1 1 bay leaf

  • 1 1 sprig of thyme

  • 1 1 sprig of parsley

  • 1.5 l 50 2/3 fl oz water

  • For the soup:
  • 1 l 1 Vegetable stock (as above). Strain your prepared stock before you use it. If you have not had time to make your own stock then you should use stock cubes or gels but bear in mind that purchased cubes and gels often have salt already added so only add salt later to taste.

  • 4 4 Little Gem lettuces - if you can’t find Little Gem then substitute any robust flavoured lettuce (not iceberg which has no flavour) – a deep green leaf is a good indication of flavour

  • 25 g 25 butter

  • 4 4 spring onions (scallions or green onions)

  • 1 1 sprig of fresh mint - you need around 8 leaves

  • 1 1 potato (medium-sized)

  • 80 ml 80 single cream (light cream). This is added just before serving to each bowl

Equipment

  • Chopping board
  • Knife
  • Measuring Jug
  • Blitzer or blender – a food processor or hand-blender if fine
  • Saucepan

Directions



  • For the stock:


  • Clean the leeks – make sure there is no soil or grit in the leeks 
    Chop the leeks into roughly 1cm pieces
    Put the chopped leeks into a large pan 
  • Peel and chop the carrots into roughly 0.5cm pieces 
    Add the carrots to the pan
  • Peel and roughly chop the onions
    Add the onions to the pan
  • Chop the celery sticks into roughly 0.5 cm pieces
    Add the celery to the pan
  • Peel the garlic
    Crush the garlic using the flat of the knife
    Add the garlic to the pan
  • Add the peppercorns to the pan
    Add the bay leaf to the pan
    Add the water to the pan
    Put the pan on the heat and bring to a boil
  • When the stock is boiling, turn down the heat to a low simmer
    Simmer gently for 20 minutes
  • After 20 minutes of simmering, turn off the heat
    Add the parsley and thyme
    Leave to cool
  • When cool and if time allows, put the stock into the fridge overnight
    If this is not possible leave the stock until it is needed – before use strain the stock and discard the vegetables etc. – you only require the liquid.
  • To make the soup:
  • Chop the spring onions (scallions or green onions) into small slices
  • Add the butter to the large pan or stockpot
    Turn on the heat and melt the butter
    Add the onions
    Turn down the heat and gently cook the onions until they are soft – around 10 minutes – don’t let them burn
  • Whilst the onions are cooking, shred the lettuce
  • Peel and cut the potato into small cubes
  • Cut the mint leaves into fine strips (the easiest way to do this is to stack the leaves one on top of the next to form a pile and then pressing the pile down with the fingers of one hand, chop the pile into thin slices – if you want to impress your friends this technique is called “chiffonade” 


  • Add the lettuce to the pan
  • Add the potato to the pan
  • Add the mint to the pan
  • Add the mint to the pan
  • Add the prepared vegetable stock to the pan 
  • Turn up the heat and bring to a boil
    Then turn down the heat to a low simmer for 15 minutes


  • Check that the potato is cooked through (if should be soft) and that the lettuce is wilted
    Liquidise the soup using a blender – you can do this with any type of blender – keep the blender going for a couple of minutes to make sure that everything is incorporated
    You should have a green soup with a few small specs of deeper green.
  • Taste and add salt to adjust 
    Add salt in pinches, blend and taste
    We have learned to our cost that you can always add more salt but you can’t take any out!
  • Just before serving:

    Warm the soup gently but do not allow it to boil – keep checking to get to the right temperature but don’t reuse the spoon!
    Ladle the soup into bowls – around one medium ladle’s worth to each bowl 
    Add a dash of cream and serve

Did you make this recipe?

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