It’s school holidays here at the moment. Glorious school holidays. Today, the Ankle Biters had some friends over and I got to enjoy the adult company of their respective mothers. One of the mums has coeliac disease so I took the easy way and made soup for the grown up lunch. The tricky part was that I missed the farmers market last Saturday and I have been determined to make do until the next market, which is tomorrow. So supplies were somewhat limited. We were all pleased with the results of my rummaging through freezer, fridge and garden.

I made this in the thermomix, it could be made conventionally by cooking on the stove top with a final puree at the end in either a food processor or with a stick blender. I used silverbeet that I blanched and froze last summer. Fresh would work just as well as would fresh or frozen spinach.

Silverbeet and Lime Soup
1 large onion, peeled and quartered (or finely chopped if not using thermomix)
large dob butter
500g silverbeet (or spinach)
2 tablespoons vegetable concentrate (or 2 stock cubes)
2 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 litre water
juice 1 lime
1/2 cup sour cream

  1. Place onion in thermomix and chop for 5 – 10 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl
  2. Add butter and saute for 4 minutes on speed 1
  3. Add silverbeet, stock, potatoes and water. Cook for 20 minutes at 100 degrees on speed 3
  4. Add lime juice and sour cream. Blend for about 10 seconds on speed 8 (or until desired consistency is reached)

Later, over a nice cuppa, we ate lemon tea cake. Which was ridiculously quick and easy to whip up, particularly in the thermomix. And a lovely day was had by all!