🥣 Rachel's Vegetable Soup, Taste Tested by Ian
Rachel MartinThere is something about the first properly chilly day that makes soup seem like a very good idea!
And when you start looking at what goes into a good bowl of soup, an awful lot of it can come straight from the garden.
A quick word about quantities before we start. I'm giving you a recipe that serves two because that's what I cook most of the time. It’s easy enough to double up if you've more mouths to feed, and having a bit of soup tucked away in the fridge or freezer is never a bad thing when the weather turns.
You should probably also know that I'm a bit casual about exact weights and measures. Too thick? Add a bit more liquid. Too thin? Let it bubble away for a little longer, or make a mental note to add less next time. That's pretty much how cooking works in our house! Ian's role in all this is perfectly suited to him: he gets to taste test it!
So this is my ‘go-to’ recipe for whatever veg I have handy from the garden, store, freezer or fridge. It's very forgiving, which is exactly what I like in a recipe! And if there’s any left, it’ll freeze happily for up to a month.
Gather your ingredients
• 200g chopped vegetables – any combination of what you have. Onions, celery, carrots, swede, kohl rabi, cauliflower, leeks... even vegetables left over from dinner can go in.
• 300g potatoes – these don't need to be your prize-winning spuds. Cut out any eyes and dodgy bits, peel and cube. Add a little more potato if you like a thicker soup.
• 1 tbsp oil – for getting everything started in the pan. You can dry fry or roast the vegetables instead if you prefer.
• 700ml stock – I happily cheat with no-salt stock cubes, then season everything to my own taste.
• Crème fraîche – yes, you have to buy this bit! I like it because it doesn't split when it hits the hot soup and the mild flavour doesn't overpower the vegetables.
• Seasoning – whatever suits the soup you've made.
• Fresh herbs – for scattering over the top, because fresh herbs just taste better.
Cooking your soup
I'm giving you two methods and a whole load of variations because, well, that's just very me. And “basic” is whatever you decide it is!
Method one:
• Fry the vegetables and potatoes in a pan with the oil for a few minutes until beginning to soften.
• Cover with the stock and simmer until the vegetables are tender, usually 10–15 minutes, although some will take longer. Blend until smooth (I use a whizzy stick blender or you could mash for a chunkier consistency), then season to taste.
• Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche and some fresh herbs.
Method two:
• Put everything in a soup maker, stand back and let it do its thing.
Some of my variations because I rarely stick to a recipe!
• Roast the vegetables first for about 20 minutes at 180°C for another layer of flavour. This is particularly good if you're using a soup maker.
• Pop in some garlic. Roasted garlic is even better.
• Celeriac is a great thickener, either with potato or by itself.
• Pearl barley from the store cupboard works as a thickener too, although it will need longer to cook. Check the packet and adjust your simmering time accordingly.
• Change the stock. I use chicken, vegetable or mushroom, sometimes a combination. Basically, whatever I've got.
• A bit of blue cheese can completely change the soup.
• Fry some chopped bacon, lardons or chopped chorizo until crispy and scatter over the top.
• Then there is seasoning. Pepper, smoked paprika and chilli powder all get used here. Personally, I don’t add salt if I can help it. Worcestershire sauce comes in handy and sweet chilli sauce is another bottle I reach for.
🥕 So what's in the garden?
Depending on what you've grown and the time of year, you could have beetroot, broccoli, sprouts, cabbage, calabrese, carrots, celeriac, celery, chicory, chillies, courgettes, fennel, leeks, parsnips, peppers, pumpkins, spring onions, swede, tomatoes and turnips to play with. And that's before I've started on all the leafy bits, herbs for flavouring or even edible petals for scattering over the top.
That's quite a lot of soup!
So rather than grow everything, I've put together a Soup Garden Collection featuring six vegetables that between them can give you a wealth of different soup combinations.
🥄 So why these six?
• Carrots: Bring natural sweetness, lovely colour and that familiar carrot flavour. Brilliant in a smooth soup but just as happy chopped into something chunky.
• Leeks: Gently cook them in a little butter or oil and they soften right down, bringing a mild, mellow onion flavour. Perfect for classics like leek and potato, but they play nicely with plenty of other vegetables too.
• Onions: The backbone for so many good soups. Cook them slowly and they add sweetness and depth without necessarily shouting "onion!"
• Parsnips: Sweet, earthy and slightly nutty. They make a soup feel rich and warming, especially when roasted first.
• Squash: Becomes sweet, soft and almost creamy when roasted first. It makes a wonderfully thick soup without needing much else to help it along.
• Turnips: Have a bit more bite to them, but cooking softens that sharpness and leaves a lovely savoury flavour. Good when you don't want everything in the soup to be sweet.
Six vegetables, plenty of combinations and no real need to follow the same recipe twice.
Which is rather the point. Grow what you enjoy, make the most of what you've got and see what ends up on the table.
And if the weather turns chilly, you've already got a very good excuse to make soup!
