Carrot and Lentil Soup

As I've mentioned before, I'm loving soup at the moment. With the weather on the turn, its the perfect comforting bowl and as I'm discovering, so easy. It's just a case of chopping and then sweating down some onion with whatever vegetables you have to hand; try adding lentils or beans to make it into a meal. This Cabbage and Bacon soup is a favourite from last year, or how about a zesty Courgette, Chickpea and spinach soup that makes the most of the last of the courgette glut.

This carrot soup is lovely and simple. Sweet carrots and lentils are simmered into a thick and warming soup and a hint of chilli and cumin add background warmth. Great for using up any limp carrots lurking in the bottom of the fridge (I always seem to have a few) and equally good (perhaps better) with brand new sweet and crisp carrots.

As usual, I would reccommend making lots for dinner, lunchboxes, afternoon snacks and finally the freezer - if you're going to make soup, you may as well make a big pot.

I blended this until chunkily smooth, but my mum (from whom I got recipe inspiration) simply simmers the soup for an age until the vegetables and lentils literally disintegrate. Try serving with a drizzle of olive oil, a dollop of yoghurt or a handful of shredded spinach for greenery.

Ingredients

serves 4

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
4 medium carrots
-all roughly chopped
1tbsp cumin seeds
100g red lentils
1l vegetable stock

• Heat a large saucepan pan and add a knob of butter with a little oil to stop it burning.
• Add the onions, garlic, chilli and carrots and cook for 5 or so mins until softeneded.
• Add the cumin seeds and cook for a few mins more.
• Add the lentils and stir until coated in fragrant oil.
• Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 30mins.
• If you want to, blend the soup until smooth.

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Courgette, Chickpea and Spinach Soup

Yet another courgette recipe (we're seriously overrun here) and this one I'm really proud of. I'd forgetten how easy a good bowl of soup is to make and how satisfying. Taking inspiration from this 101Cookbooks recipe, this is a simple and fresh soup of courgette and spinach, I add chickpeas for extra thickness and just before blending threw in a load of mint and coriander and a squeeze of lemon juice to make it fresh and zingy. Finish off with a drizzle of good olive oil or a dollop of yoghurt.




Makes enough for 2 with leftovers.

Ingredients
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 red chilli
2 medium courgettes
about 100g spinach (or spring greens)
all roughly chopped
25g butter
750ml vegetable stock (from bouillon powder is fine)
1 can chickpeas, drained
juice 1/2 lemon
small bunch each of coriander and mint

• Heat the butter in a large saucepan, sweat the onion, garlic and chilli for 5 or so mins until softened.


• Add the courgette and continue to cook for a few minutes until they take on some colour.


• Pour in the hot stock and bring to the boil. Add the chickpeas, and if using spring greens, you want to add them here. cover and simmer for 10-15mins.
  


• If using spinach, add now and cook until the spinach is wilted (it will only take about 30s).


• Add the mint, coriander and lemon juice and blend immediately.

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Spicy Noodle Soup

One of us had man flu tonight. So, I decided a spicy, warming noodle soup would be both restorative and cleansing. This is a recipe I turn to often, I got the idea when tsting recipes for a book.

Simply heat up some stock (about 600ml for 2) and by stock I mean bouillon powder dissolved in water until just boiling, then switch off. Meanwhile, chop lots of garlic, ginger and chilli finely and throw it into the stock, leaving it to infuse whilst you get on with the rest. If you have coriander, try chopping the stalks as finely as possible and adding to the broth now, I also add a drizzle of sesame oil. This create a delicious broth full of flavour, the perfect base for most things. Try it with or without noodles, I like to cook the noodles in the broth itself, although it's often a tight squeeze, as the take on the flavour and the starch thickens the soup slightly.

Next onto the vegetables. Use whatever you have, sliced mushrooms, carrots cut into matchsticks, shredded greens, diced courgettes, baby sweetcorn, green beans. Bring the stock back to the boil and add a couple of noodle nests, poke them around in the broth until softened and throw in the veggies. Stir as best you can, cover and leave to steam for 5 or so mins until the noodles are soft and the vegetables cooked. Finish with a drop of soy, stir well, scatter over coriander if you have it and eat. The noodles and vegetables take on the flavours of the spicy aromatic broth and you're left with a comforting, healthy dinner in next to no time. Read more...

Chunky Vegetable Soup

This is one of those meals that come together from random bits and bobs left in the fridge, thrown with abandon into a pan and seeing what comes out of it.

After the festivities of the weekend, I wanted something fairly light and preferably healthy. First up, we had a rather sad looking cauliflower that I planned on making soup with, cauliflower becomes deliciously creamy when pureed. Once blended, I chucked in some flagelot beans, shredded leftover cabbage and diced swede and simmered until the swede was soft.

We were left with a creamy, chunky soup packed full of veggies, topped with lots of black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and some parsley for a savoury note. What follows is a rough recipe, this is obviously a cobbled together soup, so feel free to use whatever you have, diced carrot, shredded greens, sweetcorn. Rosemary or thyme would also be delicious or sliced spring onion.


Ingredients

Serves 4

2 onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
25g butter
1 cauliflower, broken into florets
700ml vegetable stock
1tsp dijon mustard
50ml double cream
handful shredded cabbage
approx 200g swede, finely diced
1 can flagelot beans, drained

• Heat a large saucepan with a splash of olive oil and add the butter.
• Once sizzling, add the onions and fry on medium for a few minutes until softened.
• Add the garlic and cauliflower and stir well.
• Pour over the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15mins until the cauliflower is really soft.
• Add the cream and mustard and blend until smooth.
• Add the beans, swede and cabbage and simmer for 15mins or so until the swede is soft.
• Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a twist of pepper and whatever herbs you have handy. Try finely chopped thyme.

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Smocked Mackerel and Sweetcorn Chowder

I've been thinking about making chowder for a while. Something about it just appeals, kind of like a liquid fish pie - in a good way. Unfortunately, a certain someone is allergic to white fish so this has been off the menu until I realised that smoked mackerel would work just as well as haddock, imparting the same smoky flavour and healthier too. I tend to add smoked mackerel to everything these days, but the haddock would be just as good, as would peas or fresh sweetcorn I imagine.

This is certainly filling, but not as rich as it looks, the milk base is surprisingly light. Eat with plenty of bread and butter of course.


Ingredients

serves 4

50g butter
2 large leeks, white part finely chopped
small bunch parsley, leaves and stalks separated
750ml whole milk
250ml vegetable stock
400g (about 2 medium) potatoes , peeled and cut into small cubes
400g smoked mackerel fillets, skin removed
1 small can sweetcorn, drained (approx 160g can)

• Heat a large saucepan and drop in the butter. Once melted, add the leeks and fry on a medium heat until softened.
• Meanwhile chop the stalks of the parsley as finely as possible and add to the pan. Reserve the leaves for sprinkling over the finished soup.
• Pour in the milk and stock and stir in the potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for a 10 minutes. Flake in the smoked mackerel and stir in the sweetcorn. Simmer for another few minutes. Add plenty of black pepper and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

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Dan Dan Noodles

During my visit home, while rooting through my mum's cookbook collection; I found Chinese Food Made Easy by Ching-He Huang. I knew my mum wouldn't use this book, she rarely uses a recipe for anything and so, I managed to commandeer it for myself.

I'm not a fan of the cookery shows myself, a bit too smug and she annoyingly overuses the words fragrant and delicious. But the book has some lovely photos (if not enough) and the recipes are certainly a gentle, healthy introduction to authentic Chinese cooking.

This recipe caught my eye, mostly due to the picture but also as it's unlike anything I've cooked before. Luckily, there's a chinese supermarket in Brixton, so off we went (after a delicious trip to Franco Manca) and purchased vast bottles of chinese ingredients and sauces for next to nothing.


She suggested using beef mince, I think pork is more authentic, but I actually used veggie mince which worked fine; there are so many other flavours going on that you don't notice.

The results went down well, apparently 'one of the best things I've cooked'. I have to say that this was down to me tweaking the recipe somewhat. Apparently the broth for the noodles was supposed to be a mix of tahini, sesame oil and balsamic vinegar (or Chinkiang black rice vinegar), but when I combined these in a saucepan as instructed, it looked a little like gone off milk... Out went that idea and I simply cooked the noodles in vegetable stock with a drop of sesame oil, the starch in the noodles helps to thicken the broth. I used plenty of chilli to make this a cleansing, warming soup and added some radish for crunch. You can add whatver vegetables are to hand really, add mushrooms to the mince, some beansprouts, shredded spinach or cabbage could go into the broth or matchsticked carrots.

Ingredients

Serves 4

750ml vegetable stock
2tsp sesame oil
400g noodles
1 small bunch radishes, sliced
2tbsp sunflower oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1tbsp grated ginger
1 chilli, finely chopped
250g mince
1tbsp Shaoshing rice wine or dry sherry
100g gherkins, finely chopped
To serve:
1 small bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1 small bunch coriander, chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
soy sauce to taste.

• Heat the vegetable stock until boiling, add the sesame oil and noodles. stir to untangle and cook gently until soft. Stir in the radishes.
• Meanwhile heat a wok or large frying with the oil until smoking. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for a few minutes. Add the mince and stir until well browned. Pour over the rice wine and allow it to buble away. Stir in the gherkins and take off the heat.
• To serve, spoon some noodles into a bowl with a ladleful of broth, top with the mince, spring onions, coriander and as much chilli as you dare.

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Vegetable Laksa

In my university days of cooking for 5 people in a 'kitchen' that consisted of a Baby Belling, a sink and fridge to do all my prep on; this was always a special treat. We got it from our culinary bible of the time - Cranks, a revelation of vegetarian cooking and not a bean chilli in sight.

I've since tweaked it a little and cut down the long of ingredients to make it something I might be able to rustle up from ingredients at home. Of course, the authenticity leaves a lot to be desired. But, what you do get is noodles cooked in an aromatic coconut milk broth, spicy with chilli and sour from lime, topped with chickpeas, stir fried vegetables and lots of coriander. A comforting and soothing bowl.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 tin coconut milk
3 cloves, garlic
1 red chilli
3cm piece of ginger
1 small bunch coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 litre vegetable stock
400g egg noodles
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp sunflower oil
spalsh soy sauce
200g carrots, peeled, halved and sliced
250g mushrooms (shitake work best)
2 heads pak choi, sliced
1-2 limes

• Either blitz in a blender or finely chop the garlic, chilli, ginger and stalks of the coriander. Add to a large saucepan with the coconut milk, stock and fish sauce. Bring to the boil and take off the heat.
• Add the noodles, stir to untangle and leave to soften in the heat with the chickpeas. Add some lime juice to taste, until you have a nice sour contrast.
• In the meantime, heat a large wok and the sunflower oil, stir fry the mushrooms, carrots and pak choi for 5 or so mins until cooked through, finish with a splash of soy sauce.
• To serve, heat the noodles and broth until piping hot. Spoon a nest of noodles into a shallow soup bowl and top with some of the vegetables, ladle over a generous amount of the aromatic, coconut broth and top with a lime wedge and lots of coriander.

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Bacon and Cabbage soup

This is a hearty and healthy soup perfect for a chilly wintry day. Even better with lots of toasted potato bread slathered in buttered. I came up with this to use up yet more cabbage, along with various odds and ends in the vegetable basket.

The base is a simple vegetable soup, and here lies the beauty as you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand, we used leeks and potato, but carrot, parsnip or celery would all work equally well. Blend it up, add the finely chopped cabbage and simmer for about 5mins until soft. I then added some flagelot beans, just for added texture and to make it into more of a meal, of course leave these out if you like and you're still left with a delicious filling soup. A bit of salty crispy bacon at the end and you're done, optional too!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
3 leeks, sliced
25g butter
2 cloves glaric, sliced
500g floury potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
2 bay leaves
1l vegetable stock
½ green cabbage such as a savoy (about 200g), shredded finely
1 can flagelot beans, drained (or butter or cannellini beans), optional
8 rashers streaky bacon, cut into strips

• Sweat the onion and leeks in the butter over a low heat for 10mins until really soft.
• Add the garlic, bay leaves and potatoes, stir to coat in the buttery juices and pour in the hot vegetable stock.
• Simmer for about 15mins until the potatoes are completely soft.
• Remove the bay leaves and blend until smooth. Season to taste (easy on the salt!)
• Pile the cabbage in, stir and simmer for about 5mins until the cabage is soft.
• Meanwhile heat a frying pan unti very hot, fry the bacon until golden and crisp. Tip into the soup, with a smuch of the bacony juices as possible.
• Serve with lots of bread and butter.

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Cauliflower and Cannellini Soup

Hurray! Its cauliflower time of the year. I've resisted the urge to douse it in cheese sauce and did a little recipe investigation instead, I've already had success with this soup, so was excited when I read about one with cannelini beans flavoured with rosemary.

Thankfully, it turned out superbly, cauliflower is so creamy when blended, a bit of extra texture from the beans and some lovely thyme salt sprinkled on top. A perfect autumn meal, I was also lucky enough to have chunks of delicious homemade rye bread to dunk in. Surely the best part of soup?

This recipe came from Valentine Warner in Olive magazine. What follows is my take, he faffs making a chicken stock, but the sentiments are the same.

Ingredients

serves 4

1 onion, roughly chopped
50g butter
1 llarge cauliflower, approx 1kg
1500ml vegetable stock
½ small 184ml pot double cream
2 cans cannellini bean, drianed and rinsed
1tbsp sea salt
1 large sprig thyme

• Sweat the onions in the butter in a large pan, meanwhile chop the cauliflower into small florets and toss into the pan too, stir to coat in the butter and sweat too for about 5mins.
• Now pour over the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15mins until the cauliflower is completely soft.
• Take off the heat and blend until completely smooth.
• Now stir in the double cream and cannellini beans.
• Warm through to serve.
• when ready, chop the thyme leaves and salt as finely as possible, sprinkle this over the soup, with a dribble of oil and a grind of black pepper.

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Throw it in Spicy Soup

This is one for using up any vegetables languishing in the bottom of the fridge. Save them from the compost and make soup! Now that the weather is turning, its the perfect time for a warm bowl of comforting soup. Soup is possibly the easiest thing to make with the least output for maximum pleasure. What's better that a steaming bowl of homemade soup?

Now, most soups require time, not that they're difficult, you just need to leave a pan to putter away on a stove top for a while, ideally eating it the next day once the flavours have developed. Don't get me wrong, this is fabulous for cooking in advance so that you can come home to dinner already made, or freeze portions ahead, for that, try these recipes.

This soup is all about knocking up a batch in 20mins flat and having endless variations, when you can't think what to make to make for dinner, but you want to feel like you're eating something 'homemade'.

This is barely a recipe, simply fry a tablespoon or two, depending on how hot you like it of thai curry paste in a large pan until the heady fragrance are released. now throw in your vegetables, whatever you've got, think stir fry, you want everything sliced or finely chopped. Give them a stir until they start to catch. Now add a can of coconut milk, fill the empty can with water and add this too, maybe a little bouillon powder too to boost flavours. Let this simmer happily for 5mins or so. To bulk it out, add a couple of nests of noodles, perhaps adding some extra water, make you stir well and untangle them as they soften.

Try chickpeas, noodles, tofu, shredded roast chicken, sweetcorn, carrot, mushrooms, greens, chunks of salmon, bean sprouts... the list goes on. then you get to garnish, a squeeze of lime, a flutter of coriander leaves, sliced spring onions.... Read more...

Split Pea Soup

I'm a big fan of pulses. They're cheap as chips and count as one of your 5-a-day, hurray! Recently, as our unspectacular summer grinds to an end, I've been hankering after soup and when I think of soup, split pea soup is one of the first to spring to mind.

The only version I've ever made is from the fabulous Cranks, split pea soup flavoured with some aromatic cumin, with fried mushrooms and spinach stirred in at the end, dolloped with limey yoghurt. Make this once and you will see why I've never veered from it before.

Whilst contemplating the soup however, I did a little recipe browsing and have since found that you can do pretty much whatever you fancy to the soup, here's a very basic recipe, and one with olives and raita added on top, I've bookmarked this version for next time.

In the end I started out sticking to the Cranks version, but decided to blend in the spinach at the end, do away with the mushrooms and lime and just add a spoon of yoghurt, some peppery olive oil and some paprika for smoky depth.

As with most soups, this is perfect for making in a big old pot and freezing leftovers. I made half the below amount and it was all gone disappointingly fast. Being at home all weekend, means there are plenty of opportunities to heat up a little bowl for a snack...

Ingredients

Makes 6-8 portions

500g split peas (yellow or green depending on your colour preference)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1tbsp cumin seeds (ground cumin will do)
1.5litres hot vegetable stock
100g spinach
250g yoghurt
smoked paprika to serve

• Pour the split peas into a large bowl, cover with twice the volume of water and leave overnight to soak.
• The next day... Fry the onions with a little in large saucepan over a medium heat. Once softened, add the chilli, garlic and cumin, sizzle for a few minutes more.
• Drian the split peas and rinse, tip them into the pan with the onions and stir well to coat in the aromatic oil.
• Pour in the hot vegetable stock and allow it to boil vigorously for about 10mins, scraping off the frothy scum that rises to the surface.
• Turn the heat down and simmer for about 30mins until the peas collapse.
• Add the spinach to the pan, cover and let it wilt in the pan.
• Once the spinach is wilted, use a hand blender to blend the soup until smooth, be careful not to overblend, you still want flecks of green against the yellow background. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with a big dollop of yoghurt, a drizzle of oil and a sprinkling of paprika.

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Easy Butternut Squash soup

Another soup recipe, but this one is amazing! We literally roasted lots of veg in various spices and blended them up with some vegetable stock (made with a stock cube). Hey presto! Spicy butternut squash soup!

Ingredients

2 onions, red are better but white is fine
1 butternut squash, about 1kg in size
3 cloves garlic, smashed
olive oil
1tsp cumin
1tsp ground coriander
1 red chilli finely chopped or 1tsp chilli flakes
600ml vegetable stock

Peel the onion and cut into eighths, peel the squash and cut into small chunks. Spread these onto a baking tray and drizzle liberally with oil, now add the spices, chilli and garlic and stir to coat evenly. Roast in a hot oven (200°C) for 30-45mins, turning occasionally until the squash is soft and turning golden. Remove the garlic and scrape everything else into a blender, add the stock and blend for at least 2mins or until the soup is completely smooth, you may need to add some water to loosen it and season to taste. Serve with yoghurt and lots of bread and butter. Read more...

Beetroot Soup

Mmm yet another delicious use for beetroot and possibly one of my favourites. The lime juice and vodka are a must (a traditional addition to Russian Borscht), they cut through the sweet earthiness of the beetroot, spring onion adds some texture and yoghurt is just nice in most things. Plus, how amazing is the colour?

As usual with beetroot, wash all utensils as soon as possible to prevent staining. I've given all the vegetables in whole amounts as no one wants to be weighing them out, use whatever you have and adjust the amount of water you add accordingly.

Beetroot Soup

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 medium carrots, diced
4 medium sized beetroots
¼ chilli, chopped
2 tsp bouillon powder (or a vegetable stock cube, crumbled)
1 lime
100ml vodka
To serve:
plenty of yoghurt
1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

Trim the beetroots, place in a pan, cover and simmer for about 45mins or until the beets are tender. Drain and reserve the cooking water. When the beets are cool, slip off the skin and dice. Fry the onion and carrot in a little oil for 5mins, add the garlic and chilli and fry for 2mins more. Add the beetroot and crumbled stock cube, stir thoroughly. Now add the reserve water from the beetroot, enough to just cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and gently simmer for 10mins. Blend the soup, be careful not to splash the soup everywhere! Add more water if necessary depending on how chunky you like it and check for seasoning. When you're ready to serve, heat the soup and add the juice of the lime and the vodka. Serve with a judicious blob of yoghurt and a sprinkling of spring onions (and maybe a bib...) Read more...

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Now cauliflower isn't normally good for anything but cauliflower cheese. But this creamy cauliflower soup with a little sweetcorn and spring onion for texture is really delicious. Its another recipe from the wonderful Cranks Bible, you must try it, it really is good and cheap as chips to make.

Cauliflower and Sweetcorn Chowder

Ingredients
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into equal sized florets
750ml hot vegetable stock
3tbsp double cream
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 large can sweetcorn in water, drained
1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced

Saute the onions in a little oil and butter if you have it until soft, add the garlic and cauliflower and fry for 1 min, add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil and simmer for about 10mins until the cauliflower is soft. Its hard to specify weights of cauliflower as it would be stupid not to use a whole head, so add more or less stock depending on the size of cauliflower you have.

Once the cauliflower is cooked, puree the soup with the double cream and mustard. Season to taste. Add the sweetcorn to the soup and warm through. Serve garnished with a little spring onion. Read more...