Green Herb Soup
This soup can be adapted to any combination of fresh herbs - chives, mint, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, sorrel or any other you like or have available.
25g butter 6 thick spring onions with tops thinly sliced 175g potatoes, scraped and cubed 150g outside lettuce leaves or spinach leaves destalked and shredded 425ml vegetable stock or chicken stock 2 rounded tablespoons chopped fresh herbs 150ml single cream a generous squeeze of lemon juice salt and freshly milled black pepper Melt the butter in a medium pan and stir in the thinly sliced spring onions and cubed potatoes. Stir and cook over a gentle heat so the vegetables soften without browning. Now stir in the shredded lettuce (or spinach). Get it all nicely coated with butter. Then add the stock, bring to simmering point, cover and cook gently for about 10 minutes or just long enough for the potatoes to soften. Pour the contents of the pan into a blender, add the chopped herbs and cream and blend until smooth. Return the puree to the pan and re-heat, tasting and flavouring with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve piping hot. serves 3-4 Cauliflower Soup
A luxurious soup is given extra flavour with leek and thickened with cream and eggs. Served topped with a garnish of just-fried crispy bacon.
1 cauliflower 1 large carrot 1 leek 2 celery stalks 1ltr vegetable stock salt and pepper 40g butter 25g flour 2 egg yolks 150ml cream or creme fraiche 4 bacon rashers
cooking time 30 mins (to reduce calories omit step 3 and/or 4 and soup still tastes great!) Roasted Pumpkin Soup
Don't just make a Halloween Lantern from your pumpkin try this golden tasty soup!
Ingredients
Chicken Soup
Serves 4
Takes about an hour to cook: 15 minutes to prepare Ingredients
METHOD How to make chicken soup 1. Cover the chicken carcass in cold water, add salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour or so. 2. Chop up your vegetables, onion and garlic and lightly fry over a low heat in a casserole dish. 3. When the leftover chicken has finished simmering, haul out the carcass and strain the liquid through a sieve. 4. Pick any remaining meat off the carcass, including any fatty bits that you probably wouldn't eat on their own. The soup will thank you for them. 5. Pour chicken liquid over the vegetables, add the leftover bits of chicken, and simmer for around an hour or until it seems ready. 6. Towards the end of cooking, add the chopped parsley (and dill and/or tarragon, if you feel like it), plus salt and pepper if you need it. Roasted Onion Soup
Ingredients
METHOD How to make roasted onion soup 1. Place the onions on a roasting tray with the bulbs of garlic, the herbs and olive oil, cook them in a moderate oven for 45 minutes to an hour just until soft and squidgy. 2. Leave to cool, then scoop out the insides and place into a pan, add 2 pints of vegetable stock and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste 3. Pour the mixture into a pan and heat gently, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with a nice big chunky goat's cheese crouton |
Leek and Potato Soup
25g butter
225g trimmed leeks, roughly chopped 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped 225g potato, peeled and roughly chopped 1 1/2 tsp mild curry paste (optional) 600ml vegetable stock salt and pepper single cream and chopped fresh coriander for serving
Fennel and Celeriac Soup
This velvety soup is given warmth and definition with a little orange zest.
30g butter 1tbs olive oil 1 medium onion 3 fennel bulbs trimmed and sliced (any feathery fronds reserved) 1/4 about 250g celeriac peeled and cubed finely grated zest of 1 orange 500ml vegetable stock salt and pepper creme fraiche to finish
Broccoli and Stilton Soup
Served with chunks of hot crusty bread, this soup is a delicious, filling supper dish.
25g butter 1 onion skinned and chopped 225g broccoli trimmed and chopped a good pinch of cumin seeds 3 tbsp red lentils 900ml vegetable stock 50g Stilton cheese salt and pepper
Butternut Squash & Tomato Soup
Serves 6
Ready in 50 minutes Ingredients
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Cook the onions and celery for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften. Stir in the tomatoes, squash and stock and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 30-35 minutes, until the squash is really tender. Cool. 2. Either blitz in the pan with a stick blender or whizz in batches in a food processor or blender, until smooth. Gently reheat, stirring in the cream, until just simmering. Remove from the heat and season to taste. 3. Rinse Thermos flasks with boiling water, pour in the soup and seal. Carrot & Coriander Soup
Ingredients
1. Chop the onion and carrots into half inch cubes. 2. Put 2-3 dessert spoons of oil into a thick bottomed pan and place on a medium heat. 3. Add the carrot and onion to the pan, cook for 2-3 minutes. 4. Add the coriander powder and vegetable stock, bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer, cook for 30-40 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and blend in a liquidiser. 5. Return to pan, add cream and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve piping hot, garnished with fresh coriander. Bacon,Potato & Sweetcorn Soup
Serves 6 Ready in 35 minutes Ingredients
1. Heat a large non-stick saucepan over a high heat. When hot, add the bacon and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until golden. Remove and set aside. Add the oil to the pan, reduce the heat slightly, then add the onion and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until softened. 2. Add the potato and stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, until the potato is tender but still holding its shape. Add the sweetcorn, cream and bacon and simmer for 2-3 minutes to heat through. Stir in the parsley, then season to taste. |
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