It's so cold and wet today, and I just saw on the news that this stormy weather is here for the weekend. I'm all for spending the day staying cosy at home with the heating ramped up. And because of the weather, I'm making my favourite delicious vegetable soup for lunch with enough for tomorrow's supper. It's the easiest recipe to change up depending on what vegetables are available through the seasons.
If your trying your hand at making soup, the important thing is flavour - I steer away from tired old vegetables and like to use the freshest ingredients possible, so it's packed with goodness.
I love that this is a simple, nutritious vegetable soup that's very affordable and full of flavour. Nothing better than a satisfying bowl of homemade soup with a thick wedge of bread and butter.
Here's how I make it.
Ingredients | Makes 2 pints of soup = four generous helpings
Two tablespoons of butter or olive oil
One cup of roughly chopped carrots
One cup of diced celery
One cup of chopped leek
One large diced onion
One or two cloves of garlic.
Two medium diced peeled potatoes
Two vegetable stock cubes
Tablespoon of chopped parsley
Water
Dice vegetables with a sharp knife. Sauté the onions and garlic until they are translucent. If you don't have time to sauté, no problem, the soup will still be delicious. Add two vegetable stock cubes to two pints of boiled water, stir and pour over all the ingredients. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 25 minutes with an occasional stir.
The beauty of the stock cubes is there is just the right amount of salt added - some shop-bought soups have too much salt, and sugar added. Serve with thick chunks of buttered bread, crackers or breadsticks and enjoy!
The soup tastes even better on day two. You can make this in a pot on top of the stove or in a slow cooker. It's so easy to prepare and full of healthy goodness, plus you can use different vegetables, lentils or even small shaped pasta.
Rushing back home from school on a winter's evening, I looked forward to the beautiful aroma of Mum's soups, stews, and baking. Happy childhood memories! Mum would make stock from a whole chicken carcass - not something we have time to do these days, but the soup tasted heavenly and included small chicken pieces.
Pam x