Recipe: Broccoli, chilli, lime and mint summer soup

I have veg coming out of my ears at the moment. Our novice veg patch is coming along nicely and we've also been getting weekly deliveries from Mr Kate's Uncle Gerald's considerably more established veg plot.

I have to admit that we're still making lots of beginners' mistakes - we have been too late in picking some of our purple sprouting broccoli and it has gone to seed and started flowering. So we harvested this good bunch the other day to make sure we didn't miss out this time.

We also had some broccoli left over from Mr Kate's reduced Waitrose haul from the other day, reduced from £1.69 to 15p. Now I know that summer isn't really the time for soup, but with all this veg to use I decided to try and create a light, summery soup. I found half a lime and some spring onions (on their last legs) in the fridge and the idea started to come together.

Here's how to make my broccoli, chilli, lime and mint summer soup:

1) Chop a few spring onions, a red chilli and a clove or two of garlic. Reserve a bit of chopped chilli to garnish the soup later.
2) Soften in some olive oil in a large saucepan on a low heat.
3) Cut the broccoli into florets and add to the pan.
4) Add boiling water to the pan to cover a third of the broccoli.
5) Bring to the boil, turn down and simmer with the lid on for five minutes or until the broccoli is tender.
6) Blend the soup in a liquidiser or hand blender - add more water if needed.
7) Squeeze in the juice of half a lime
8) Chop a few leaves of fresh mint and add to taste.
9) Add freshly ground salt and pepper to taste.
10) Sprinkle red chilli on top and serve.

I know it's far too hot at the moment for soup but I served this warm (instead of piping hot) and the mint and lime made it deliciously light and summery. Mr Kate was sceptical when I served him up some soup for lunch but he soon changed his mind when he tasted it!

Leftovers for lunch tomorrow and a big dent made in my veg glut! Price? No more than 50p for the whole lot!