4 light soups that will help you say goodbye to winter

As the days get longer and we enter that awkward period of ‘coat or no coat?’ weather, it begins to feel a lot like spring. Fresh, seasonal produce is available in abundance, leaving us no excuse to not eat well. After a long winter, the brighter evenings and budding flowers are telling us to ditch our winter-warmer meals.

Though we’re not breaking out the barbeques just yet, it’s time for something a little lighter, and a little more colourful. With that in mind, here are four tasty springtime soup recipes to bridge the gap between a comforting winter dinner and a delicate summer meal. 

1. Tortellini al Brodo

“Tortellini? The pasta?” we hear you cry. And yes, that’s right — what we might think of as an easy-to-cook supermarket pasta is actually served in a soup, traditionally. According to the experts over at Pasta Evangelists, “tortellini is a ring-shaped filled pasta from Emilia-Romagna, usually stuffed with a hearty meat filling and served in broth.”

Typically served as a first course, Tortellini al Brodo satisfies without ever feeling too heavy, and could be just what you need to say addio to winter.

Ingredients

Broth

Approx. 6 servings

• 750g chicken bones
• 1 carrot, peeled
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 1 celery stick
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt to taste

Pasta

• 200g 00 flour
• 2 eggs

Filling

• 150g diced pork loin
• 200g prosciutto
• 200g mortadella
• 100g grated parmesan
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Using a large pot, add broth ingredients together with 3l of water. Slowly bring to the boil on a medium heat. 
2. When boiling, cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 2 hours, skimming any foam as it forms at the top.
3. While the broth simmers, prepare the pasta dough. Combine flour and eggs by hand or using a food processor, and knead until a smooth dough forms. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. 
4. To prepare the filling, gently heat the butter in a frying pan and brown the pork loin. Remove from heat, then combine with prosciutto and mortadella in a food processor.
5. Once combined, blend the meats with the eggs, grated parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg until a fine mixture forms.
6. After resting, divide the pasta dough into 3 even pieces, and roll out using a floured rolling pin. Cut the flat piece into approx. 3cm squares, and place half a teaspoon of filling in each square.
7. Fold each square diagonally into a triangle and press edges to seal, then fold the bottom corners of each triangle together to form pockets, Squeeze out any air bubbles and ensure no filling has been pushed out of the pasta.
8. Allow broth to cool slightly, then strain out vegetables and bones.
9. Reheat the broth until simmering once more, add salt to taste, then add the tortellini and cook for one minute.
10. Top with parmesan and serve.

2. Pho

We’re hopping continents to inspire our next creation with the perfect soup to brighten up any springtime evening. Pho is the national dish of Vietnam, made up of a bed of airy rice noodles, topped with meat and veg and served in a flavoursome spiced broth. The dish is traditionally served with thinly sliced beef, though sometimes this is swapped out for chicken, or tofu in veggie iterations. 

Pho is loved in Vietnam for its depth of flavour, infused with warming spices like ginger and cinnamon to help clear out those winter blues. It takes some prep to make an authentic recreation, but stick with us for some serious palate payoff.

Ingredients

Broth

Approx. 6 servings

• 4.5kg beef bones, mix of meaty (oxtail, rib etc.) and cut marrow bones
• 125g ginger, sliced
• 1.5 tbsps coriander seeds
• 8 star anise
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 cardamom pods
• 2 onions, peeled and halved

Assembly

Per bowl

• 100g rice noodles
• 100g beef tenderloin, sliced
• 50g bean sprouts
• 1 spring onion, sliced
• 1 small red chilli, sliced
• 2 sprigs coriander
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• Fish sauce to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Boil the beef bones in water for 5 minutes and then drain to extract fats. Once boiled, rinse off the bones and keep aside.
2. Char the onion and ginger in a pan over high heat for 3-5 minutes, then remove from heat and dry toast the cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and coriander seeds for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
3. Bring 3.5l of water to a boil and add your onion, ginger, spices and bones.
4. Cover and gently simmer the broth for 3 hours.
5. At around the 2h30 mark, put your raw beef tenderloin in the freezer for 15 mins, to partially freeze and make it easy to slice thinly.
6. Once partly frozen, slice the tenderloin into wafer-thin strips, ready to be cooked in the broth when you serve up.
7. Bring a separate pot of water to the boil and place your noodles in to simmer for 5-10 minutes, until tender.
8. Strain your noodles and place them in a wide bowl, then top with the thinly sliced beef.
9. Once the broth is finished simmering, remove from heat and strain. Add fish sauce, sugar and salt to taste.
10. Pour the hot broth over the noodles to cover the raw beef, then watch the broth cook the beef strips. After about a minute, these should appear medium rare.
11. Top the soup with bean sprouts, spring onions, chilli slices and coriander. Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

3. Asparagus soup

Spring is the season for asparagus. The stalked vegetable is low-calorie and full of essential antioxidants, linked with lowering blood pressure and reducing inflammation. With plenty of health benefits, these veggies are the ideal way to kickstart your year. Plus, they’re easy to cook and thought to be a super-effective aphrodisiac ⁠— what’s not to love?

The little shoots can make a simple, healthy soup with an unmissable green colour. Packed with leafy goodness and blended to creamy perfection, this might just be your newest springtime staple.

Ingredients 

Approx. 4 servings

• 400g asparagus stalks, finely chopped
• 40g unsalted butter
• 600ml vegetable stock
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 4 tbsp double cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat the butter on a low heat until bubbling, and fry the onion until soft.
2. Add the chopped asparagus and garlic, and fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Add spinach to wilt, then pour in your vegetable stock. 
4. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, until the asparagus is soft.
5. Stir in cream and pulse with a hand-held blender until the soup is smooth. 
6. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

4. Lemon chicken soup

There’s nothing that ushers in summer quite like the flavours of the Mediterranean. Greek-inspired lemon chicken soup is a tangy dish that blends feta cheese and chives into the broth, for a bold taste of the sun-drenched islands. 

Bright with just a little bit of spice, rest assured that this is not the same kind of grey chicken soup you’ve had when all cooped-up in bed with a cold.

Ingredients

Approx. 6 servings

• 1.5l chicken stock
• 150g couscous
• 75g crumbled feta cheese
• 20g chopped chives
• 2 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 lemon, zested
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsps olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil on a medium heat, and fry the onion and garlic until soft.
2. Add lemon zest and red pepper flakes.
3. Pour over chicken stock, and add chicken breasts. Cover pan and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add bay leaves and stir in couscous. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Remove chicken breasts, shred with a fork, and return to the pan. 
7. Crumble feta cheese into soup and stir.
8. Add chives, salt and pepper to taste, then serve.