Lia's Kitchen

May’s Recipe – Vegetarian Mageiritsa, a Greek soup of greens and mushroom

Posted on May 2, 2017

May is the period of the hungry gap but at Blaencamel Farm where, during this period of summer anticipation , they continue to grow nourishing greens. Gem and pink, and green Battavia lettuce have appeared on the stall. There is spinach, sweetheart cabbage, wild and green garlic. Whilst the seasonal bouquet garni can complement the dill that makes this spring soup so special.

May’s recipe is a Greek traditional Easter soup with a Welsh and clean-eating twist! Mageiritsa is traditionally cooked with lamb’s liver and plenty of greens and salad leaves. This is a vegetarian version and could be made vegan if you choose to not use avgolemono, the egg-lemon sauce typical of many Greek recipes. If you live in Wales what makes this Mageiritsa extra special is using dried kelp from Pembrokeshire. And the final Greek note is the use of the tangy and sharp sea buckthorn berry, which is becoming a staple in my cooking this year.

Visit www.liaskitchen.com for more ideas and monthly seasonal recipes inspired by Blaencamel Farm’s crops.

Ingredients (4-6 portions)

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 -2 leeks, finely chopped
• 1 green garlic or 1 bunch of wild garlic
• 500-700g finely chopped mixed Blaencamel greens, such as spinach, lettuce and/or sweetheart cabbage
• 500g mushrooms, Blaencamel farm or chestnut if they are not available
• 1 punnet of mixed Blaencamel farm herbs (fennel, sage, mint, thyme) (Optional)
• 1 finely chopped bunch of dill or 1 tbsp. tried dill
• 2 Tbsp. uncooked rice
• 1 heaped tsp. Pembrokeshire Beach Company Kelp or other dried/crumbled sea weed (optional)
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. sea buckthorn berries roughly chopped (optional)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Around 2 litres of stock

For the Avgolemono sauce:

• 1 small egg
• Juice of one small lemon

Preparation (45 minutes)

1. Coat the base of a deep pot with olive oil and sauté the onion and leeks with one teaspoon of salt until soft and translucent.
2. Add the cubed mushrooms (2 -3 cm chunks) and sauté for 2-5 minutes.
3. Add the finely chopped herbs, wild or fresh garlic and greens, and stir fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Then add the stock, stir well and (if you are using) add the dried kelp or other sea weed, pepper and sea buckthorn berries.
5. Simmer for about 10 minutes and then add the rice.
6. After 20 minutes (when the rice has softened and soup has thickened) remove from the hob.
7. Beat the egg really well until it is fluffy and creamy (around 5 minutes), and whilst you continue whisking gradually add the lemon juice.
8. Take one ladle of hot stock from the soup, strain through a fine sieve and add the hot stock slowly to the egg-lemon mixture whilst still whisking on low speed or by hand.
9. Finally add the thinned egg-lemon and stock juice to the hot soup stirring in well to make sure it flavours and thickens all of the soup.
10. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.