School is finally out for the semester and I’m completely over the moon! The first dish we made after I wrapped up my last assignment was this Spring Onion Noodle Soup. We first made it about two years ago and it’s been a spring time favorite ever since. I still find it quite funny that I loathed onions, absolutely hated them with a passion, for most of my life. These days, I can’t imagine making any of my recipes without them and they’re easily one of my favorite vegetables!
This soup combines the flavors of sweet onions, green onions, and leeks with lemon and basil. The result is a perfect balance of delicious spring time. We love, love, love this soup, especially topped with the Lemon Sour Cream and soaking up the broth with Justin’s Herbed Cheese Toasts is just heaven. We hope you love it as much as we do!
Spring Onion Noodle Soup with Lemon Sour Cream and Herbed Cheese Toast
Yield 4-6 servings
Ingredients
Spring Onion Noodle Soup
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced (Vidalia is perfect for this)
- 1-3 large leeks, white part only, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
- 2 cups fresh or frozen shelled peas
- 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 4 cups water
- 8 ounce small pasta (like alphabet or ditalini)
- 1 cup loosely packed, torn basil leaves (Chiffonade)
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- salt to taste
- Lemon Sour Cream, optional (below)
Lemon Sour Cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup chopped chives
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- dash of garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
Herbed Cheese Toast
- French baguette (or similar)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
- 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Directions for Spring Onion Noodle Soup
- Preheat your broiler now so it’s ready for your bread later.
- In a 4-quart Dutch oven, heat the butter and the olive oil over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Add the onion slices (hopefully you found a Vidalia!) and stir until the onion is coated. Cover the onion and cook it for 15 minutes, occasionally stirring, until it’s translucent and soft.
- While the onions are cooking, assemble the bread (directions below).
- Stir in the leeks and green onions and cook them covered for 10 minutes more or until the leeks are softened.
- While the leeks and green onions are cooking, assemble the Lemon Sour Cream (directions below).
- Stir in the peas and add the chicken broth, water, pasta, and salt. Bring it all to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer it all uncovered for 5 minutes, adding in the lemon juice and basil leaves at the end.
- Serve the soup with a dollop of Lemon Sour Cream on top and two slices of Herbed Cheese Toast!
Directions for Lemon Sour Cream
- In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, mayonnaise, chives, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Stir until it’s all combined and forms a beautiful cream sauce.
Directions for Herbed Cheese Toast
- Cut the baguette into slices of your desired thickness. We usually keep each slice at about an inch to an inch and a half (too thin and they’re too crispy, too thick and they’re too bread-y).
- Smear the top of each slice with butter, then sprinkle each one with dried oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper. We don’t mix them first because we like to control the amount of each seasoning on each slice of bread.
- Lastly, top each slice with some shredded Parmesan and mozzarella.
- Bake the bread in the preheated broiler until the cheese is melted. Watch the bread carefully so it doesn’t burn.
Notes
Soup recipe adapted from Better Homes and Garden Magazine, originally created by Hali Ramdene. Herbed Cheese Toast recipe original from Unruly Bliss.