Vegan

Spring green broth recipe

4
Print Recipe

Celebrate the season with this delicious spring green broth recipe. Complete with a toasted crumb topping, it makes for a warming lunch that’s full of vitamins and minerals.

This dish is excellent for keeping you sustained all afternoon long. We especially love to serve this nourishing spring green broth recipe with a slice or two of crusty sourdough. If you have the time it’s well worth making your own sourdough. After all, few things beat the smell of freshly baked bread – it’s homely, inviting and comforting. Plus, sourdough is naturally fermented, meaning the tough outer shell of the grain is broken down before we eat it. This makes it easier to absorb and is gentler on our gut.

We love to use generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil to cook the vegetables initially (enjoy 10% off at The Governor Olive Oil with LIZLOVES). It’s a common myth that we shouldn’t cook with olive oil. In reality, cooking with extra virgin olive oil can make food more nutritious. In fact, its antioxidants are so resistant to heat that they don’t break down. Instead, they end up being absorbed by the cooked food. Extra virgin olive oil can also help shield food from high heats, helping to retain some of the nutrients usually lost during the cooking process.

Discover more delicious recipes

Please note, on some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage and always honestly review. For more information please read our Affiliate Policy.

Ingredients

  • 1 celery stick, finely chopped
  • 1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
  • 1 large white onion, finely chopped
  • 2 generous glugs of olive oil
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
  • 1.5L vegetable stock
  • 125g orzo
  • 1 lemon, juice
  • 150g spring greens
  • Handful of spinach
  • Sea salt and black pepper

For the crumb

  • 2 slices brown bread, toasted
  • 1 lemon, zest
  • 1 small handful parsley, finely chopped

Method

  1. Add the celery, fennel and white onion to the cold olive oil in a pan and slowly bring up to the heat. Allow to sauté for about 15 minutes over a low-medium heat until it is translucent.
  2. While the base ingredients are cooking, make your zesty crumb in preparation by blitzing the brown toast into medium-fine crumbs. Add into a bowl with the lemon zest and parsley. Set to one side.
  3. Season the sautéed veg with sea salt before stirring in the fennel seeds and garlic for a few minutes, then pouring in the vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer, then add in the orzo. Cook for five minutes before adding in the spring greens and a squeeze of lemon.
  4. Allow to cook for a further three to four minutes until the greens are vivid and the orzo tender. Stir in the spinach just before serving. Ladle into bowls, season and then serve with the zesty crumb on top.