Floral recipe: nasturtium and buttermilk soup

The grass is growing, the lilac is out, the clematis montana is spreading pinkly across my fence. My salads, neglected since winter, are sprouting into unwieldy unrecognisable alien towers, the mice have eaten a cake I left recanted in the shed, all, except the icing. I must abandon my recipe testing to mow the lawn. If only I had a husband, I've heard that they are good for that even if little else. 
I have a window box which I can see from where I do the washing up; it has a teapot without a lid, pouring mauve hyacinth bulbs, now waned, and a cloud of nasturtiums, spurting peppery orange and green into the sky. Inspired amongst the suds, in my head I create a dish. Everyone knows you can eat nasturtium flowers but don't neglect the leaves,  which can be used in salads, as a pesto or in a soup.

Nasturtium, courgette and buttermilk soup

Serves 4

50ml olive oil

1 large banana shallot, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 large courgettes, cut in half lengthways and sliced

A few mint leaves

500ml vegetable stock (marigold)

1 tbsp of sea salt

300ml buttermilk

A large handful of clean nasturtium leaves

To garnish:

nasturtium leaves

nasturtium flowers

The rest of this recipe can be found on my blog post on WineTrust100 here.