The soup doesn’t simmer for long, but long enough to toast some nuts and blitz a pesto. Andy Baraghani called for pistachios (they’re green, see what he did there?). But literally any nut is invited. You could also try using pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. His pesto uses both basil and parsley

, but whenever there are a blend

of tender herbs I think one or the other can party solo. Or introduce a different herb, like the one in your crisper drawer that you were trying to figure out how to use up. Was it cilantro? Mint? Tarragon? Use those!

By the end of this process, you will have a light, brothy,

vegetable-laden bowl of soup that you can shave some parm onto and serve with toasted (possibly stale!) bread on the side. When you dollop some aromatic pesto over the hot liquid, those herbs will bloom, and not only will you smell something delicious, you might just feel something, too. Will it be as restorative as a warm breeze on a sunny May day? I can’t promise that. But it’s not all bad. Somewhere, birds are chirping, and we’re here slurping. These aren’t ideal times, but at least this soup promises to be very flexible.