Author: Steph Varley

Categories
Recipes

Soups

Carrot soup

Soups

Quick step-by-step instructions for making soup.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Course: Main Course
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Simple Carrot
  • 1 knob butter
  • 4-6 carrots (yes, that’s all you need!)
  • 1 pint or 800ml of hot stock
  • season with salt and pepper if needed optional
  • coriander or parsley, dried or fresh for extra taste optional
  • cumin, coriander and chilli for a mildly spicy version optional
Parsnip and Carrot – sweet and creamy
  • 1 knob butter
  • 3 parsnips (cut into rings or 4cm pieces)
  • 2 carrots (cut into rings or chunks)
  • 1.5 pints hot stock
  • a little milk or water optional
  • season with salt and pepper optional
Chunky vegetable pasta – meal in a bowl

Whichever vegetables you have!

  • 1 knob butter
  • 1 diced potato
  • few torn cabbage leaves
  • 1 carrot
  • parsnip
  • celery
  • cup peas
  • green beans
  • 1 handful pasta (for the final 10 minutes of cooking – make sure there’s plenty of liquid in the pan for the pasta to cook)
  • 1 pint 800ml of hot stock
  • season with salt and pepper optional
Rosemary Roasted Root Vegetable – This is a National Trust recipe

Roast vegetables in the oven for 30-45 minutes. When the veg is roasted, take out the rosemary stalks and tip all the veggies into a large pan. Add 800ml vegetable stock to the saucepan, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Simmer for 5-10 mins until veggies are soft. Serve chunky or let cool for 10 mins before blitzing.

  • olive oil
  • sprig or teaspoon of rosemary
  • 1 onion
  • 1 celery stick (chop your vegetables into 6cm)
  • 200 g swede (chop your vegetables into 6cm)
  • 1 parsnip (chop your vegetables into 6cm)
  • 2 carrots (chop your vegetables into 6cm)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 5 sprigs rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary)
  • 800 ml vegetable stock
Mexican Bean and Sausage – meal in a bowl

This is smoky spicy chorizo meal in a bowl. If you don’t want it too spicy leave the chilli powder out of the recipe.

• Heat the oil in your saucepan and fry the sliced sausage for 4-5 minutes.

• Add the vegetables, give it a stir then let it all sweat on low heat for 10 minutes

• Add the chilli powder and hot veg stock then the pepper, tinned sweetcorn and tinned bean

• Simmer for 15-20 minutes and serve with crusty bread.

  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 350 g chorizo or smoked pork sausage (sliced)
  • 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
  • 1 clove garlic (peeled and crushed)
  • 2 large carrots (peeled and diced)
  • 2 potatoes (peeled and diced)
  • 1 tbsp hot chilli powder
  • 600 ml hot vegetable stock
  • 400 g can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
  • 198 g can sweetcorn (drained)
  • 1 green pepper (deseeded and chopped)
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • crusty bread optional
Watercress

Cool for 10 mins after cooking then blitz together

  • 1 knob butter
  • 1 large onion (chopped)
  • 350 g potato (diced)
  • 250 g watercress (chopped)
  • 1 pint hot stock
  • 4 tablespoons milk or cream (add at the end after cooling the soup a little) optional
  • season with salt and pepper optional

Equipment

  • saucepan
  • handblender
  • chopping knife
  • chopping board
  • measuring jug
  • roasting tray optional

Method
 

  1. Chop your vegetables into smallish chunks, about 4 to 6cm. Gently melt a knob of butter or a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan. Throw in your vegetables and stir round for 2 minutes on a medium heat.
  2. Sweat – put a lid on the pan and turn the heat down so the vegetables ‘sweat’ for 5 minutes. Don’t skip this step, this is the key to great tasting soups.
  3. Cook – Dissolve a stock cube in about 800ml (¾ pint) of boiled water and pour it on your vegetables in the pan. Bring the pan back up to a simmer and cook with the lid on for 25 minutes. 
  4. For chunky soup, that’s it, it’s ready!
    For smooth soup, let it cool for 10 minutes or so then blitz it with a stick blender or food processor. If it’s too thick, add a little more water or milk. Taste it and season with salt and pepper.
  5. Toppings and Garnish ideas
    Adding something crunchy or crispy to your bowl when you serve the soup turns a simple meal into a delicious (and more-ish!) treat.
    • Croutons are really easy to make using leftover bread cut into cubes, tossed in seasalt and fried in a pan or the airfryer. Add a sprinkle of dried herbs to make them extra special.
    • Fried onions
    • Garlic breadcrumbs (leftover bread slices – grate and mix with finely chopped garlic, bake in oven for 8 mins)
    • Toasted seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame)
    • Crispy chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed – toss in vegetable oil and 1tsp cumin, 1tsp coriander, salt and pepper – bake in hot oven 20 minutes)
    • Crispy bacon or pancetta or crispy skinny vegetable skins (fry then chop and sprinkle on soup)

Notes

Easy recipes are carrot soup, leek and potato soup, mixed vegetable soup – it’s a great way to get plenty of vegetables into your diet even for kids who won’t eat them, especially when served with crusty bread or a slice of toast.
Top tips
• Soup is healthier if you leave the vegetables chunky so you don’t need to blitz it unless you want to. You can use a stick blender or a food processor to puree the mix once it has cooled a little.
• You can make a soup out of anything you like and it’s a great way to make use of vegetables to create a healthy, filling, delicious meal on a budget.
• Add some pasta to the final 10 minutes of cooking to make the soup really filling – little macaroni looks nice but you can use any kind – shells, fusilli, broken spaghetti etc.
• Adding a stick of celery and/or 2 cloves of chopped garlic when you stir fry the vegetables adds a really nice depth of flavour.
• Add cooked shredded chicken or chopped tinned ham chunks for more protein.
• Add a crispy garnish or topping to turn a simple meal into a tasty treat. Crispy bread croutons, bacon, toasted seeds, fried vegetable skins.
Recipe ideas – it’s the same easy method to make them all (1. chop 2. sweat 3. cook) and these are all 4 to 6 servings. You can always add more liquid to make it go a little further and all recipes will keep well in the fridge for a few days and are suitable for freezing.