Vegetable Soup - Brilliant

This recipe comes from  a past issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. It's exceptionally low in fat and chock full of vegetables, but it's the fresh lemon juice, fresh dill and fresh mint that make this very healthy soup memorable....and that's a good thing.

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 small leeks, light green and white parts only and washed well and sliced thinly
- 3 celery stalks, chopped
- 3 medium carrots cut into small cubes
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 pinches of red-pepper flakes
- 5 and 1/4 cups of chicken stock ( I used organic stock packaged in tetra-packs)
- 1 and 1/2 cups of water
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
- 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1 head of escarole cut into 1 inch thick ribbons
- 1, 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of thinly sliced fresh mint
- 2 tablespoons of thinly sliced fresh dill
- coarse salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over a medium heat. Cook the leeks, celery, carrots, garlic, red-pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon of coarse salt, stirring occasionally until the leeks are translucent (about 5-10 minutes). Add the stock and water and bring to the boil, then add the squash and potatoes and return to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender ( about 15 to 20 minutes). Stir in the escarole and chickpeas, and return to the boil. To finish, stir in the lemon juice, herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Serves 10-12.

Editorial Note: I used  frozen cubes of squash and this worked well. Also, instead of escarole, I used about 2.5 ounces of a mixture of baby spinach and arugula; that's about 2 large handfuls of greens.