This is a healthy vegan version of my favorite dandelion soup. Called manest, it is an Italian soup traditionally made with bitter greens, vegetables, sausage, and cheese. I learned it from my father-in-law’s late wife Carol, whose grandparents gathered dandelion greens in suburban Philadelphia every spring to make it. The proper spelling of manest—menest, menestra, minestra—is up in the air, but it appears to be a predecessor of minestrone, for which pasta and beans are added. In her house, it was served as a first course.
To make it, you need to gather lots of dandelion greens. I usually like to have at least two large salad bowls full to feed 2-3 people. The best time to gather them is early spring, before the flowers begin to open in earnest. This is when the greens will be less bitter, and more importantly, not yet tough. If you do see a few open flowers or buds on a given plant, that’s ok–just chew a leaf to see if it is tender before gathering. Don’t worry too much about the bitterness because the cooking method will dissipate some of that. Good dandelion greens are at least somewhat lifted off the ground so you can cut the center of the cluster without getting the outside leaves still touching it.
Wash your greens thoroughly to remove any grit by plunging them repeatedly in a big bowl of water. Then remove the greens to see if the water is dirty or there is any dirt at the bottom of the bowl. If so, rinse the bowl and repeat until they are clean. Rough chop the dandelion greens into 2-3 inch pieces and you’re ready to go.
Healthy Vegan Dandelion Soup
Ingredients
- Carrots
- Onions
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Potatoes
- 2 big bowls of dandelion greens
- Almonds
- Nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Make vegetable soup: Chop and boil carrots, onions, tomatoes, celery, and potatoes in water (or vegetable broth) to cover until the potatoes are done. For a small batch that feeds two, boil 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 1 celery stalk, and 1 potato. You want a tasty broth. Some herbs or bouillon can be added if needed.
- Cook a mess of dandelions: Set a big pot of water to boil. Wash and rough-chop 2-3 huge bowls of dandelion greens. Boil a couple of minutes until desired softness.
- Compose manest: Drain and plate a mound of dandelions in a bowl. Pour veggies and broth overtop.
- Sprinkle “cheese” on top: Top with vegan parmesan cheese. This adds a salty, umami element that balances the dandelions. I like Dr. Michael Greger’s Nutty Parm recipe. It has a few ingredients I did not list above. For a super simple version, you can just grind up almonds and nutritional yeast in a coffee grinder.
Notes
- This recipe is “healthy vegan,” meaning whole food, plant-based, and SOS-free, which stands for “free of salt, oil, and sugar.” Eating this way can have an amazing impact on many health conditions, from heart disease to cancer to depression. More on that here.
- You can find my older meat-lovers version here.
Yes, yes, I hear you—dandelions are bitter. But there’s something about them, balanced by the other vegetables and vegan parmesan, that adds a certain brightness, a freshness that evokes the vitality of spring that leaves me craving more every time. Hopefully you’ll give this soup a try—and maybe in it you’ll discover a new appreciation for this common, healthful, wild green.
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