As spring and early summer have ended and begun, the posts are scarcer given the greater time spent in the garden.  There’s less time for cooking as well, so more complicated recipes have given way to faster and easier fare: yet when garden goods are fresh and it’s less than fifteen minutes from yard to table – it takes next to nothing to make them shine.

This is a delicious way to showcase some of the first crops to come in: garlic scapes and fresh herbs.  It makes a beautiful starter to a multi-course dinner or a good intro before some more substantial veggies and dip (which is what my lunch looked like).  It’s also a nice snack.

While I love it heavy on the spices, like a strong herbal tea, those who aren’t so into spicy or bitter bite may want to tone everything but the garlic scapes down by half.  And final note – this soup is as good as the broth it’s made with: so a home-made, well-strained vegetable broth is key.

Yield: 1 serving

What you need:

• 2 cups unsalted vegetable broth
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• lots of fresh cracked black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, finely sliced (you want a chiffonade)
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh lovage (may be substituted with celery leaf if desired)
• 1 tablespoon sliced garlic scape, coarsely chopped again after measuring (about half a large scape or all of a small one)

What you do:

1. Put the vegetable broth, salt and pepper in a small saucepan and bring right up to a boil before immediately removing from heat.
2. Add the basil, lovage and garlic scape and mix.
3. Cover and let sit 5 minutes to infuse (yes, like tea), and so the flavours get to know each other.
4. Serve.

Variations:

• Replace the basil with another fresh herb such as parsley, or with fresh carrot tops, beet greens or radish greens;
• Omit the basil, lovage and salt and instead spice the broth with a tablespoon of mellow white miso before adding the garlic scape.