Anna Jones’ spring herb and yoghurt soup recipe | Food (2024)

Right now, soft herbs, wispy and green, fill my kitchen. From savoury flat-leaf parsley to the green tartness of the first sorrel, these first-of-the-year soft herbs, I’m sure, are here to wake up our palates, lifting us out of the rhythm of winter cooking and readying us for the fresh flavours and simple dishes that lie ahead.

Herbs have been peppering everything I cook over the past few weeks: topping bright spring stews, taking centre stage in soft herb omelettes, crowning gently spiced pilafs, and in pestos that sit under a golden slick of oil in the fridge.

I’ve been buying bunches of sorrel – an underused herb, probably because it can be hard to get hold of. If you can search it out, its lemony liveliness makes your mouth water like no other food I know: if there was ever a herb to get us ready for spring, this is it. I love it in salads, baked under eggs and wilted on toast. This week, I use it with lentils and radishes to make a pretty salad with some crispy-edged lentils.

All herbs get their flavours from the essential oils within them, but fundamentally differ from each other in strength and structure. Softer herbs like coriander or basil often add more flavour when added at the end of a dish, whereas more traditional British herbs – rosemary, sage, thyme, bay – add more when they’re used during the cooking. Whether or not you follow one of today’s recipes, keep this in mind if and when you decide to infuse a meal with herbal notes. Spring’s soft herbs need little (or nothing) by way of cooking to do their very best in a meal.

Spring herb and yoghurt soup (main picture)

Just about the perfect bowlful for this space between winter and spring. You can use any soft herbs here – just make sure you balance a more neutral herb, such as parsley, with a stronger one such as tarragon (the stronger the flavour the less of that herb you will need). You need quite a gentle stock for this: if you are using cubes or powder then ½ a cube or 1 tsp of powder will be plenty in 1 litre of water.

1 Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and celery and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time, or until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and spices, then cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the pan smells aromatic.

2 Roughly chop the herb stalks, then add them to the pan along with the butterbeans and the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, or until the stalks have softened.

3 Allow to cool a little, then whizz with a stick blender in the pan until you have a smooth soup. Add the yoghurt, most of the herb leaves (reserving a few for the top of the soup) and whizz again, until smooth.

4 Add the lemon juice and taste, adjusting the seasoning with more salt or pepper. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a sprinkling of sumac and a few herb leaves.

Sorrel, roasted radish and crispy lentil salad

If you can’t get hold of sorrel, scrunch a couple of handfuls of spinach together with the juice of ½ a lemon, then roughly shred it and scatter over the top in place of the sorrel. It won’t be quite as pretty, but it will still taste great.

2 In a separate roasting tray, mix the lentils with a generous pinch of sea salt, another 1 tbsp of olive oil and the zest from the lemon.

3 Put the tray with the radishes and potatoes into the oven for 30 minutes, giving a shake once or twice during the roasting time. With 15 minutes to go, put the tray with the lentils into the oven. Roast until they are crisp and beginning to blister; the radishes and potatoes should be soft and golden brown at the edges.

4 Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking the yoghurt with a little squeeze of the lemon and the olive oil. Season well with salt and black pepper, taste and add more lemon, if you like, then set aside.

• Anna Jones is a chef, writer and author of A Modern Way to Eat and A Modern Way to Cook (Fourth Estate); annajones.co.uk; @we_are_food