Soup- a!
Many of us think of soup as a cold weather dish, but having this flexible and adaptable recipe in your back pocket is a year-round winner and perfect for those cooler spring days
Classic Creamy Vegetable Soup As you will see, the ingredients for this recipe are completely dependent on what you have available at the time. This recipe makes 6-8 generous bowlfuls, so upscale or downscale in proportion depending on what you have – but remember it keeps happily in the fridge for up to 3 days and also freezes well.
Helipad Editor and aspiring cookery writer Ali Simpson goes back to the kitchen to show how simple it is to make classic cream of vegetable soup from scratch, and shares a few of the many variations you can make depending on what you have in your fridge and store cupboard
I admit I love making soup! It is perfect for using up every scrap of vegetables we have lurking in our fridge or larder. If you have celery that is too limp or carrots that are too wonky to grace a dinner plate, they are ideal for making soup and it is satisfying to know that you are minimising your food waste at the same time. Once you have tasted home-made soup, you will never go back to tins or packets and, if you have a child who professes to ‘hate’ vegetables, this super tasty recipe is a sure-fire way of getting bags of veggie goodness into them without them even noticing! The following recipe for classic creamy vegetable soup is my starting-point, but it is infinitely variable depending on what you have available, so I have also shared some of my favourite adaptations for you - but anything goes with soup, so be creative!
Ingredients You will need approximately 1.2 – 1.4kg (about 2 ½ to 3 lbs) of mixed vegetables – I would suggest a rough ratio of two-thirds of ‘starchy’ root vegetables - which will provide thickness to your soup - and one-third of whatever other vegetables you have available. So, for this recipe, 800g (just over 1 ½ lbs) of root vegetables and 400g (about ¾ lb) of other vegetables is about right. Some examples of suitable vegetables are shown below, but I’ve also been known to add sprouts, broccoli, cucumber and even a bag of rocket!
wedes • Carrots • Celeriac • s: Potatoes • S Vegetable t o o R Starchy nions • Celery • Peppers • Leeks urgettes O o C : s e l b Vegeta Other
Fenne l • Turnips • Beetroot • Par snips • Cauli flower • S quash • Pumpk in
