The Brexit Cupboard- Soup Recipe Edition

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

I am forever making lentil soup. It's our favourite and the best way of getting nutrients into us all I've found.

I'd like to try some new soup recipes that would be suitable for brexit cupboard ingredients, do am hoping others will share theirs,

My soup uses fresh carrots and celery but these are UK grown and therefore we should be able to get hold of them, although prices might go up. Tinned carrots could be used, or frozen carrots and celery.

The recipe originally contains onion and garlic but my ibs does not thank me for those ingredients especially together.


Bercow's Fart Lentil Soup --
--
2 pints boiling water
2 vegetable oxo cubes
2-3 bay leaves depending on size
5 oz red split lentils -well rinsed in a sieve
4 large us here carrots- quartered lengthways and chopped
3-4 sticks celery-cut lengthways then chopped


Put the boiling water in a large pan with the oxos and bay leaves.
Add the lentils.
Chop the veg and add to the pan.
Bring to the boil and simmer for around an hour.


I no longer measure the ingredients apart from the oxos and bay leaves; I do it by eye now as I've been making it for decades.

I like vegetarian dumplings with mine and the children like crusty bread and butter.

Please share your recipes!

[HateIsNotGood]

I always make stews with stuff - my tip is to add a good pouring of barley (I rinse first) at the start. I never follow recipes - and don't use cubes - just build it with all the stuff that needs using and stuff from the cupboard.

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

@HateIsNotGood perhaps you could share a recipe that includes barley as I've bought some but don't know what to use it with yet.

[HateIsNotGood]

It goes really well with carrots, swede, potatoes, onions, cupboard herbs - if you're not vegetarian - chicken stock and if it's using meat - it goes with any meat.

It's a really good way to healthily bulk stews, very cheap and grows well in the worser UK climates so not much carbon footprint.

It's also really difficult to overcook it - why I use it at the start, when the stew tastes good and the barley is cooked, the stew is done.

[HateIsNotGood]

Leeks - I forgot leeks - a winter veg that works too.

[ListeningQuietly]

At the moment in the veg garden I am picking leeks and kale and collard greens and using up potatoes ....

We had bubble and squeak for supper the other night (with some cheap cooking bacon) and it was lush

[HateIsNotGood]

If I promise not to say anything except, arrgh, sigh, that was lovely... can I come round for a feed please LQ? I'll bring some eggs too.

[ListeningQuietly]

Hate
Yes, of course,
Eggs we are probably OK as a neighbour delivers us 6 duck eggs every Sunday morning
Come summertime my veg garden is my sanity hidey hole
but it does make me rather more aware of the food supply chain than many

Today I seeded aubergines, pimentos, padron peppers, basil, seven types of tomato and broad beans
Week after next I start on the outside seed beds ...

PS am inspired to look at adding barley to shin of beef stew. Thankyou.

[HateIsNotGood]

Shin of Beef + barley = one of the best, made for each other.
Sanity is found in many gardens.

[Saffronesque]

I thought I'd just pop in & let you know that clotted cream (date Oct 2019) defrosted beautifully - no change to texture or taste.

The other success was cheddar cheese kept in the fridge. We're currently eating up September 2019 dated mature cheddar. No issues at all. Not frozen, so cooks & grates easily.

Hope that helps someone.

[bellinisurge]

Cheers. That's good to know.

[Funkycats]

My favourite soups all have a base of chopped onions, carrots and celery, all sweated in oil for a few minutes. They are then thrown into the slow cooker with stock (homemade or otherwise) and bits of whatever else I have in the fridge. I sometimes use spices too, or add a slug of wine. It's never the same twice, but always delicious.
One slow cookerful provides 4-5 portions, and so that gives us 2 lunches each and one to go in the freezer.

[Funkycats]

I like the sound of your lentil soup, Bercows. I found similar recipe online and tried it a while back. Was lovely, and made me feel all healthy and wholesome for the rest of the day.

I have more cans of sardines in my larder than I know what to do with. I tried the Jack Monroe sardine and tomato soup from her book 'Tin Can Cook'. It is surprisingly tasty - needs to be cooked for a good length of time to get rid of the strong flavour.
I highly recommend that book as it gives lots of recipes for making tinned food palatable.
Can post soup recipe if anyone is interested.

[Funkycats]

Also just for interest, uncooked bacon slices freeze well and defrost quickly. Useful bit of protein and wrapped in portion sizes, they can slot into tiny spaces in the freezer :)

[HateIsNotGood]

Inspired by this thread - I cooked a barley-based stew on Sunday - literally using old fridge and freezer veg, including supermarket veg, old herbs - it's totally tasty (slabs of buttered bread dipped in). Mostly leeks and yellow peppers...frozen carrots and swede, probably more barley than usual. Should have said earlier - Pearl Barley.

Super-fussy DS even ate some!! I'll freeze the rest and add it to some cheap meat. And similar to funkycats - I sweat the starting ingredients in oil first too - and the stews never taste the same.

[BlackeyedSusan]

Bean soup.

Assorted dried beans, soaked, cooked with pearl barley and brown basmati rice, cooled and frozen in 500g margarine tub chunks.

Fry carrot and onion in pan with oil. Add water, balsamic vinegar, white wine, sesame oil, chuck in frozen beans mix, ( see below) or tin of butter beans, mixed beans, kidney beans etc, I add frozen peas and sweetcorn as it looks pretty and they are what the children eat. Fresh coriander leaves chopped.

Bean mix: butter, black, urid, haricot, pinto, mung, yellow and green split peas, brown and green lentils, pearl barley. ( Basically any of the dried stuff that needs soaking)

I batch cook the dried beans, then freeze in olive spread boxes.

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

Good lord that sounds even fartier than my lentil soup!

[Funkycats]

Sounds nice though!

[BercowsFlyingFlamingo]

It's the perfect day for making soup or other comfort food. We are having a mass tidy and I'll make some soup. I'm fed up of living in a tip. Why doesn't anyone pick up after themselves apart from me?!

[BlackeyedSusan]

We eat a lot of veg, pulses. Farts and mile long poos are normal.

[SistemaAddict]

I start a new venture tomorrow and will be gone all day so Fridays are going to become soup days for us. Must remember to take it out of the freezer tonight and let it defrost in the fridge.