Nourishing super green soup recipe
The ingredients of our super green soup recipe can give your liver’s detoxification system a boost, bring antioxidant benefits and improve your hair and skin. As the weather turns colder, try this recipe out to not only warm your cockles but boost your health too.
Green peas are loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, as well as lutein and zeaxanthin, phytonutrients known to promote eye health.
Watercress gives this soup a zingy taste and is part of the cruciferous vegetable group, which display an astonishing concentration of vitamin A carotenoids and an unusually high content of vitamin C and manganese, giving them a growing reputation as antioxidant vegetables. Watercress also contains phenethyl isothiocyanate, which helps detoxify the liver.
Onions not only pack a punch when it comes to flavour, they are also a very good source of biotin, manganese, vitamin B6, copper, vitamin C, phosphorus, potassium, folate, vitamin B1 and fibre. This richness in conventional nutrients is accompanied by their unique phytonutrient content which has cancer-protective properties.
Good old chicken stock is the base for this soup. All animal stocks contain gelatin, which is a good source of the amino acid proline, a non-essential amino acid that is an important precursor to the formation of collagen. Several studies have shown gelatin’s positive effects on the growth of hair and nails. Gelatin has also been shown to be healing of digestive conditions such as colitis and ulcers. (For a vegan or vegetarian alternative, use vegetable stock.)
The addition of heart-healthy olive oil makes this soup a complete meal, so why not try it as a winter-warming lunch?
How to make our super green soup
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
300g frozen peas
2 bags watercress
1 – 1 ½ pints home-made
or bought fresh chicken
stock (or vegetable stock)
Sea salt and pepper
to season
Method
Sauté the onion in the olive oil until soft.
Add the peas and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Skim off any foam that comes to the surface.
Add the watercress, stir in and blend with a hand-held blender.
Season to taste.
Our expert
Abir Hamza-Goodacre is a nutritional therapist at Benenden Hospital
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