Delia Smith Old English Summer Soup

Delia Smith’s Old English summer soup is potato, lettuce, cucumber and spring onion sweated in butter, simmered in stock for 20 minutes and blended smooth. It serves 4, works hot or cold, and comes from The Delia Collection: Soup.

Delia wrote this for gardeners “whose summer crop threatens to overwhelm them.” She has three summer soups built on the same base across her books. This version keeps the ingredients stripped back, with no cream, so the vegetables carry all the flavour.

The 10-minute sweat on low heat is what makes this work. Delia cooks everything in butter with the lid on before any liquid goes in. That draws out moisture gently, so you taste vegetables rather than just hot stock.

Delia Smith Old English Summer Soup

Recipe by Pinch PerfectCourse: SoupsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

255

kcal

Total time

40

minutes

From The Delia Collection: Soup. Four garden vegetables sweated in butter and blended into a pale green soup that works hot or cold. Delia says to serve it chilled in bowls on a really hot day.

Ingredients

• 350g (12 oz) potatoes, peeled and finely diced

• 4 or 5 spring onions, finely chopped (including the green parts)

• 1 small, round lettuce, washed, patted dry and shredded

• Half a medium cucumber, chopped (no need to peel)

• 75g (3 oz) butter

• 850ml (1½ pints) chicken or vegetable stock

• Snipped fresh chives, to garnish

• Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Directions

• Melt the butter gently in a medium saucepan. Add the potatoes, spring onions, lettuce and cucumber.
• Stir everything round in the butter. Keep the heat very low, put a lid on and let everything sweat for 10 minutes.
• Pour in the stock, stir, add some salt and freshly milled black pepper and bring to the boil.
• Reduce the heat to low, put the lid on and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes.
• Leave the soup to cool a little, then puree the whole lot in a blender. If you need to do this in two batches, have a bowl to hand for the first batch.
• Check the seasoning, gently reheat the soup and serve with freshly snipped chives stirred in at the last moment.

FAQs

Why does Delia sweat the vegetables before adding stock?

Sweating in butter with the lid on draws moisture from the vegetables slowly. The lettuce wilts, the cucumber releases water and the potato starts to soften, all without browning. This builds a concentrated base flavour before the stock dilutes it.

If you skip this step and drop everything straight into stock, the soup tastes thin. The butter also carries fat-soluble flavours that water alone can’t extract. Delia uses 75g of butter here, which sounds generous. But it’s doing all the flavour work in a soup with no cream and no spices.

Can I serve this soup cold?

Delia says yes, and she’s specific about it. Serve in chilled bowls on a really hot day. After blending, let it cool completely, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours. The flavours settle and sharpen as the soup chills.

Cold soups need more seasoning than hot ones because chilling dulls the palate. Taste and adjust the salt after the soup is fully cold, not while it’s still warm. A squeeze of lemon juice before serving brightens a cold version. Her summer fruit compote makes a good dessert after a chilled soup starter.

Why does Delia use lettuce in a soup?

Lettuce has been cooked in British soups for centuries. The “Old English” in the title is a nod to that tradition. Round lettuce wilts into almost nothing, adding a mild, grassy sweetness without any bitterness.

Delia uses the same technique in at least two other recipes. Her Summer Soup of Lettuce, Cucumber and Peas from A Year in My Kitchen adds peas and cream to the same base. Iceberg wouldn’t work here because it has too much water and no flavour. A small, round butterhead lettuce is what Delia means, and it breaks down completely when blended.

What type of stock works best?

Delia lists chicken or vegetable stock. Chicken gives a richer, rounder flavour. Vegetable stock keeps it lighter and properly vegetarian. Avoid stock cubes if you can, because their saltiness fights the delicate vegetables.

Homemade stock is ideal but not essential. A good-quality fresh stock from the supermarket chiller section works well. The potato thickens the soup naturally as it cooks, so the stock doesn’t need to be heavy. If you use a cube, skip the added salt until the end and taste first. aubergines amalfitane makes a strong main course if you’re serving this soup as a starter.

Do I need to peel the cucumber?

Delia says no, and she’s right. The skin adds colour to the finished soup, turning it a brighter green after blending. Peeled cucumber produces a paler, less appealing result.

The skin also adds a slight bitterness that balances the sweetness of the butter-sweated lettuce. If your cucumber has been waxed, give it a good scrub under running water first. English cucumbers from the garden, which is what Delia had in mind, don’t need peeling at all.

How long does this soup keep?

The soup keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days in a sealed container. The colour fades from bright green to olive as it sits. But the flavour improves on day two as the potato starch thickens the base further.

Freezing works for up to 3 months. Freeze in portions rather than one big batch so you can defrost only what you need. Reheat gently on the hob, stirring often, because the potato base can catch on the bottom. Add the chives fresh after reheating, never before freezing, since frozen chives turn slimy. vanilla ice cream from the Summer Collection makes a light finish after this soup on a warm evening.