Winter soup

[nephilim]

So I visit a friend of mine who has 2 plots in an allotment. I helped him build his shed and as payment I got to take what I liked from his plot provided I didn't take more than 1/4 of each crop...fair trade.

My haul was...

6 parsnips.
6 carrots.
2 fennel bulbs.
3 onions.
1 swede.
1 turnip.
1 butternut squash.
1 sweet potato.

Not bad considering it's all fresh and cost me an hour of work.

I decided rather than roast it all with a pheasant or chicken or rabbit etc, why not make a soup. So...everything got sliced and diced into cubes no larger than 0.5cm cubed. Thrown into a pan with a knob of butter and fried briefly to add flavour...then covered with water and let it simmer on a low heat for 3 hours.

Came back...everything had turned to a mush pretty much...so I pulled out the hand blender and finished it off. Gave it a taste and it was great. Not had anything like it but will definitely be doing it again. The best part is that it made enough for my baby daughter to have 10 portions for dinner and me to have 3 bowl fulls (measured for work) and still freeze some.

I highly recommend it.

 

[KayakFisherFinland]

I do similar soups quite often, adult audiences only, so chili, garlic and onions go in too.
Coconut cream gives nice taste to it and few handfuls of lentils add som substance to it.

Cooking time about half, the hard ones go in first and the softer veggies later and a lot bigger pieces. When all done, go trough with a bamix.

 

[Paul_B]

I used to cook a chicken and veg in a pressure cooker. That gave a good 3 or 4 meal portions then if there was anything left I'd take it out, pick the meat off the bones and return them to the clean pressure cooker. I add water carrot, celery and herbs, whatever you want. That is then pressure cooked for stock as a nice flavour base for soups. Can do similar with fish frames.

To summarize, I get 3/4 meals with chicken, potato and veg. Then the rest is a nice soup, the bones and skin makes stock for soups later on.
Back in the day when I lived on my own I used to get 7 large meals from a small roast chicken. Not small meals neither. Thrifty cooking was a real interest but I found it took time to do. I think the whole soup post by the OP is part of the same thing, getting a good feed out of relatively cheap and basic foodstuffs.

Anyone heard of Scouse? A good scouse is a continuous affair. You keep a large pot on the go putting in whatever you have that day. The remnants of the last meal are used to start the next. Long cooking times made for good flavour.

 

[Tengu]

You must have had a big pot.

Me, I would have made some soup and saved the rest for a roast later. Roots store well, after all

 

[rik_uk3]

You must have had a big pot.

Me, I would have made some soup and saved the rest for a roast later. Roots store well, after all

I thought he did well with the veg he had, it was not masses to begin with.

 

[SGL70]

1 swede.

Made me laugh...I saw this:

...ok...had to google that one, so I can now keep calm and carry on

 

[nephilim]

You must have had a big pot.

Me, I would have made some soup and saved the rest for a roast later. Roots store well, after all

It holds around 18litres or so. When the veg was all diced up it took 2 litres of water to cover the vegetables. Picked the pot up on ebay for a fiver from a chap who was somewhat local to me and retiring from catering.

Couldn't complain.

 

[Robson Valley]

Blizzard thing happening out side right now. Soup is a plan.
You should try a much large dice next time or a shorter time.
I poke the veggies with a stick, tender = done.

Scouse? Yeah but I used to know it in Spanish: Caldo Largo(?)
Bouilliabaise is an approximation of what got made
over the weeks from Dunnocatch (dunno what we will get).

 

[Woody girl]

Soup time is here again .
Last week I made a veggie soup for my church harvest festival meal. Not a drop left, so must have been good.

I don't realy do soup recipes as such, just chuck it in, plenty of herbs and salt and pepper, a decent stock, possibly some minced garlic cloves, and an onion, it's different every time.
Today I'm making butternut squash and sweet potato soup, but I'll also add some red lentils to thicken it ( instead of potatoes,) and also extra protein.

What are your favourite soup recipes?

 

[Tengu]

Chicken broth

Cullen skink.

 

[Toddy]

I like carrot and coriander made with lentils and onions.

I like leek and potato, and Scotch broth full of barley, peas and split peas (I'm vegetarian, it doesn't need to have meat if you use good stock)

I think the bread with the soup, or the oatcakes, matters as much. Tomato is lovely with sage bread but herby doughballs (dumplings ?) work really well with it too.

 

[Pattree]

Soup is for always, not just Winter. I have been enjoying mint, pea and courgette recently. Lovely cold in Summer.

Now the days are shorter and mornings are getting misty I’m making root soup.
It’s easy: onion, carrot, parsnip and spud spiced and herbed and a veggie stock. No gluten no meat and no dairy. I’m an omnivore but I can offer this to everyone. On my own I eat it with my own bread. Life is more than rice cakes. (Oats have too much gluten for one of my regular guests)

 

[Toddy]

When I couldn't manage gluten I made potato scones to go with soup. Very easy and very good

 

[forrestdweller]

When I couldn't manage gluten I made potato scones to go with soup. Very easy and very good

how do tou make them?

 

[Toddy]

Usually I cheat and use instant spuds....smash or some supermarket equivalent. Makes it easy, no need to have leftover potatoes or boil them up first.

To the made up potatoes...you can cool them a little with milk or something like, season them well, you can add grated cheese and it really makes a tasty scone, add one egg and mix well, then shake over and work in as much flour as it will hold to just get a not sticky dough.

If you're vegan or don't have one to hand, you don't need to add an egg, just gluten free flour will work fine. If you use self raising, they'll fluff up a bit, but they rise a bit anyway because the dough traps heat.

It's a by guess kind of thing. You want a dough that you can handle enough to pat out into palm sized ovals or rounds...this is for ease. If you want the traditional quarter circle shaped ones, farls, then it's best to open up a freezer bag and lightly flour it, put a ball of the dough inside, and then gently press down and around like doing a tortilla with something like the lid of a pyrex baking dish.

Either way, I use a cast iron girdle but you can use a dry frying pan. Give it a wee dust with some flour. Put the scone on at a medium heat and turn after a couple of minutes. Up to yourself how brown you like them.

These fresh potato scones are soft, if left to grow cold they'll set hard like the almost tasteless ones in shops. These ones aren't tasteless

Works with gluten free flour, not with plain rice or cornflour, but does with wheat. Not so good with wholemeal though.

So, simplified down,

Made up mashed potatoes
butter/milk /seasoning/ grated cheese to add richness
One egg (or not)
Flour.

I'll take some photos next time I make some.

M