Mexican-inspired tomatillo soup with seared padron peppers

Throughout MoFo, I'm going to be flitting back and forth between my original theme of student food, and the MoFo prompts. Guess which one this post is about?

Nope, this isn't really a student inspired recipe is it? I can't see many students ditching packet noodles and rushing out to buy tomatillos from their nearest Lidl, can you? Still, I am a student and I made this recipe, so I guess I can still pass it off as student related! After all, I think I pretty much lived on soup when I was a student the first time around.

On the other hand, it is very, very green, so I'm chalking it up as a definite MoFo-inspired recipe for today's It's Easy Being Green prompt.

I made this soup after coming across some fresh tomatillos, something that I see only rarely. I bought a million or so punnets, and then had to roast and freeze them. I've still got a couple left, so I can enjoy the late summer flavour for a little bit longer.

If you can't find any fresh tomatillos (probably 99 percent of the world then), the canned ones are available online and will do the trick.

Assuming your stock hasn't got any wheat in it, this recipe should be six-food elimination diet friendly.

Mexican-inspired tomatillo soup
Makes three to four bowls

Ingredients
one white onion, finely chopped
two cloves of garlic, finely sliced
One green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
one can of cannelini beans
two small courgettes
400g fresh tomatillos or one can of tomatillos, drained
500ml vegetable stock
50g of pumpkin seeds, fried in a dry pan until they pop
30g of coriander, separated into roots and stems
Half the juice of a lime
Nine to 12 Padron peppers

How you do it
Sweat the onion off in a little oil until cooked through and translucent - about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and chilli, and cook for another couple of minutes.
Add in the beans, courgettes, tomatillos and vegetable stock, and bring the pan to a simmer. Leave to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the courgettes are cooked through.
While that's happening, roughly chop the coriander roots, and use a hand blender to pulse the roots, pumpkin seeds, and lime juice into a thick paste. Once that's done, add some oil to a hot frying pan and chuck in the padron peppers. Shake the pan and turn the peppers over occasionally - you're looking for a nice char on the sides.
Once the soup is cooked, take it off the heat, and add the paste, lime juice, and coriander stems. Using a hand blender, blend the soup until smooth, and top with your seared padron peppers.