Souptastic

So the weather is taking a turn for the chillier - have you put your heating on yet?One of the things I love about the colder weather is soup. I love it. It's so easy - at the basic level it's simply a matter of cooking up some veg in some stock, and blitzing it with some form of processor. Or you can leave it chunky. Add a handful of lentils or some bacon - whatever's in the fridge and it can be a meal in itself, a snack, just something to drink... I didn't used to follow a recipe. I come from a long line of soup makers. My mum's soup would evolve over time, starting out as stock from the bones of a Sunday joint plus veg, and would gradually be added to over the week as bowls were ladelled out and more was added. I still don't often follow a recipe, but occasionally I do and in the interests of sharing, I've tried to put some of the more popular creations down in some form of 'recipe' but please feel free to adapt at will. If you think something different might taste good - it probably will.



Here, then, for your delight and delectation, are some great soup ideas, ideal for warming up the colder evenings.



Roasted Tomato & Thyme Soup - a method

This is going to be pretty useless for anyone looking for a tried and tested recipe, because, true to my soup roots, I just do this by eye and taste but if you’re comfortable with that, it’s a great way to use tomatoes.

I filled a roasting tin with halved/quartered (depending on size) tomatoes, chucked in 4 good sized cloves of garlic still in their skins, added the leaves from a good bunch of thyme, drizzled over some olive oil, added some freshly ground salt and pepper  and roasted it all in a fairly hot oven for 30 minutes or so.

Once the tomatoes are softened and a little charred, remove from the oven and set aside. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins and discard the skins.

Sweat off an onion in some olive oil, tip in the contents of the roasting tin and add stock, starting with 500ml and see how you go. The last time I made this, and with a view to actually getting to the bottom of my freezer,  I retrieved a tub of frozen turkey stock lurking in the depths (yes, I know, from last Christmas) and used that. Simmer everything up for 10-15 minutes, then whoosh with your favourite whoosher. Taste and add more seasoning. This can taste a bit thin, so you can add Worcestershire Sauce or even BBQ sauce (Gordon Rasmsay does, apparently), and a hadnful of red lentils is always a good soup thickener if you need to make it more substantial.
 




Roasted Tomato & Red Pepper Soup


8 tomatoes, 2-4 cloves of garlic, 2 red peppers, 1 tsp caster sugar, 1 large onion, olive oil, 1 litre of veg stock, 1 tbsp barbecue sauce, 150ml crème fraiche or sour cream, handful of fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper.


Pre-heat the oven to 1800. Halve the tomatoes, deseed the red peppers and chop into chunks. Put the veg into an oven proof dish, scatter over the garlic cloves (still in the papery skin) and drizzle over a little olive oil, shaking the dish so that everything is mixed up. Grind over some salt & pepper and sprinkle over the sugar. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes of so. 


Meanwhile, peel and chop the onion, gently heat a little more olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for 10 mins or so till softened. When the tomatoes and peppers have finished roasting, remove them from the oven. Fish out the garlic cloves and squeeze the soft roasted middles into the pan, discarding the skins. Add the roasted tomatoes and peppers to the pan along with the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Once the peppers are cooked through, turn off the heat and leave the soup to cool for 5-10 mins. Add the crème fraiche and most of the basil leaves, and whizz everything up to a
smooth creamy soup. You can make it look extra smart by blobbing
any leftover crème fraiche onto the top of the soup, and topping with a basil sprig.



Celeriac & Pancetta Soup – serves 6

Olive oil, 6 slices of pancetta or thin streaky bacon, knob of butter, 1 large onion, peeled and chopped, 2 bay leaves, 3-4 springs of thyme, 1 large celeriac, peeled and chopped, 1 litre veg stock, 150 ml single cream.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan, and fry the bacon/pancetta until crisp. Remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside on some kitchen paper. Add a little more oil to the pan and the butter, and when melted add the chopped onion, bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Cook gently for 10-15 minutes until the onion is soft, then add the celeriac to the pan and cook, stirring for another few minutes. Tip in the stock, grind in a little salt and pepper, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes till the celeriac is cooked. Remove from the heat and fish out the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Pour in the cream, then using whatever implement you prefer (I use a stick blender), whizz up the celeriac/stock to a smooth soup. Once you have ladled the soup into bowls, break up the pancetta/bacon and sprinkle on top of the soup. If you have any extra thyme, you could sprinkle a few leaves over the top too.



Bacon Red Pepper and Sweetcorn Chowder
(serves 5-6 depending on appetite and whether there is anything else!)
 

6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces
1 large onion, reasonably finely chopped
1 large potato, cubed
2 red pepper, deseeded and diced
250g sweetcorn
approx 1 litre vegetable stock
double cream/milk (depending on how cold and needy you are feeling)
4/5 spring onions, finely chopped to garnish

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a big pan, fry the bacon and onion till the bacon is looking cooked and the onion is softening, then add in the potato & red pepper and cook for a few more minutes till the potato is soft. Tip in the vegetable stock and sweetcorn and bring to a simmer. When the potato is cooked, stir in 10 tbsp cream or milk, season and serve with the spring onion sprinkled on top and some good bread. We had it with focaccia.



Chunky & Cheerful Chorizo soup (I'd like to call it 'chowder' but you don't add any milk)

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic,  finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced quite small
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped 
125g cooking chorizo, chopped to a similar size as carrot and pepper
1 can of chopped tomatoes, 
2 tsp vegetable stock powder, 
ground coriander and smoked paprika, 
large handful of small pasta - I had some orzo & some conchiglietti in the cupboard.

 
Put the kettle on. Finely chop the onion and garlic, heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan, and add the onion and garlic and fry gently for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Peel and dice the carrots, halve the pepper, remove the seeds and dice, then chuck the carrot and pepper in with the onion and stir for a couple of minutes. Chop the chorizo into similar size chunks as the carrots & peppers, add to the pan, stir in and cook for a couple more minutes. Sprinkle in a sprinkle (literally, just a sprinkle) of the paprika and coriander and tip in the tin of tomatoes. Add the stock powder to the empty tomato tin and fill with boiling water. Add the stock to the pan, then a second tin's worth of hot water. Bring to the boil chuck in the pasta and leave to cook until the veg & pasta is cooked - it'll take about 15 minutes. Goes very nicely with garlic bread.

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