Soup Soup Soup

Does anyone have any nice soup recipes?

I know everyone just says "throw everything in and add stock" but the last few times I've done it the results haven't been all that great. I used to make really nice soup but these days it just doesn't seem to be hitting the spot. Any tried and tested recipes would be fab. TIA.

Sorry alec, I just sweat off onions add whatever veg and then stock, but even if I did use recipes almost all my soups have either cream, cheese or meat in and I know you don't really partake of the former and definately don't do the latter!

One I do that would be suitable is an Italian Farmhouse style soup with onion, carrot, courgette and turnip cut into little cubes (approx 1/2 cm sq) cooked to softness in stock then tomato puree added and some oregano either fresh at he end or dried earlier on.

Cheers, I think I've just been doing too much "sling it in" and not enough thinking about what it's going to taste like. Almost like an afterthought. Dan always says you can tell when I've made something when I've not wanted to - it's never as nice. I probably just need to concentrate more!

rules to stick to:
almost all root veg tastes good with other root veg
no stress thickening can be done with potato or rice. just add them to everything else and cook til done, then whizz.

minestrone

1 onion chopped finely
1corguette (optional)
1/4 cabbage (white or savoy are best, but my mum prefers red), shredded
1 carrot peeled and chopped finely
1 stick celery about the same size as the carrot, chopped finely
1 bay leaf
pinch oregano or thyme
veg stock, about a pint ish
pasta... either smash up some left over shapes, or break some spaghetti, or use specific soup pasta. it must be very small pieces though.
tomato paste
garlic- to taste

fry off the onion, celery and carrot until onion is transparent but not brown. pour in veg stock and a little wine if you have it or want it. now add garlic and tomato paste, it shouldn't be overpoweringly tomato-y.
cook for a few mins then add the rest of the ingredients bit by bit. cook until veg is soft and pasta is done.

this is a family favorite, completely veggie, can be vegan if you use egg free pasta, and can be gluten free by changing the pasta. my mum sometimes rings the changes by adding rice instead but this isn't authentic lol.

Minestrone

1 onion finely chopped
2 celery sticks
4 small carrots
tin chopped tomatoes
1.4l veg stock
75g spaghetti (broken into small pieces)
tin cannellini beans
150g frozen peas

Sweat onion, celery and carrots for 10m. Add toms and stock and simmer. Add spag and cook for 10m, add beans and peas for 3 mins.

Quick, easy, filling and delicious.

Cheers folks, will give Minestrone a go!

My favourite is my spicey red lental and mixed vegatable

1 celery stick
4 carrots
3 onions
1 large potatoe
1 tiny turnip
1 leek
1 chilli with the seeds
pinch of cumin
pinch of papreka
3 pinches of mixed herbs
1 veggie oxo cube
1 tin of tomato's chopped

I like mine to be quite chunky when chopping up the veggies except the turnip that I dice as tiny as possible but it's up to you occassionaly at the end I blitz it if I want a smooth soup.

I put all the veggies, herbs, spices into the pan with a couple of pints of water and bring to the boil

Then simmer for 10 minutes then add more water if required and add in 3 handfulls of red lential.

Give it all a big stir

Then pop on the lid simmer away but every few minutes give it a quick stir checking it's not sticking and how much liquid is in the pan as lentals do soak up liquid. I add more boiling water if required and test the veggies with a fork and do the taste test on the lentals as you don't want them to be hard or over cook and go powdery.

Serve with a big homemade roll and sometimes some grated very strong mature cheddar on top.

Cheers Aisles, with a bit of tweaking that sounds good. We eat lots of lentils, love them, Dan can't have anything like turnip though, but I'm sure the soup wouldn't suffer too much without it. Might give it a go today!