I recently ate in a seafood restaurant and had a wonderful puréed asparagus soup. The waiter insisted that it was purely vegan, so I decided to try and duplicate the recipe at home. It was delicious! I was so inspired that the next time I substituted cauliflower for the asparagus, and another time, broccoli.

Here are the results of my experiments.

Wash and slice 2 leeks (white and light green parts) and 2 large Yukon gold potatoes, and sauté them in a generous amount of olive oil. Then add either 1 bunch of washed, cut asparagus, or a head of washed and cut up cauliflower, or 1 bunch of washed and cut up broccoli. Put a cover on the pot to steam all of the vegetables together. Then add water to cover, with a splash of white wine. Bring the soup to a boil, and then a simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Purée the soup with an immersion blender and add salt (and pepper) to taste. Instead of wine, or even with the wine, add fresh lemon juice at the end, again to taste. To serve, add:

• chopped fresh parsley leaves
• swirl of olive oil

The soup can be made using half water and half chicken stock instead of water and wine, but additional lemon juice still might be necessary.