How To Make a Vegetable Soup More Exciting

[ChinUpChestOut]

I have just made the dullest vegetable soup ever. All the usual suspects from the back of the vegetable drawer in the fridge: leeks, broccoli, potato, carrot, teensy bit of cabbage, seasoning. And bleah.

What can I add to it? Is there a spice that would go particularly well? Any herbal suggestions?

It's not end of the world stuff, I know, but I can't face eating that for lunch tomorrow.

[AndMiffyWentToSleep]

I would throw chilli in, or cumin/coriander, or cheese? Or curry spices like garam masala? Or change the texture with beans or pasta?

[notnowImreading]

Put butter in it. Butter makes everything taste nice. So does salt.

[DaddyPigsSecretAdmirer]

I made a veg soup for tea this evening and added chickpeas and Harissa to pep it up a bit! Garam masala is a good suggestion too

[MrsSalvoMontalbano]

oooh, great thread title! Would do what i always do when feeding the dc anything unusual they are suspicious of - cover in grated cheese. Grated cheese makes everything tastier...

[blouseenthusiast]

pesto and home made croutons, lots of parmesan.
Wine, basil, parsley, beans -minestrone...

[BikeRunSki]

Marmite

[ChinUpChestOut]

Thank you for all your replies. I've just added garam masala and fresh coriander leaves. Eeuurgh. Still a very uninspiring soup. I can't think what I've done to make it so bleah. I've added extra seasoning as well, and I sautéed the vegetables in butter before adding the liquid. It might actually be the liquid now I think about it - it's chicken stock that DH made and that's the only difference to my usual blend. Normally I love it, but this is just a bleah.

Still some left though. Tomorrow I will try pesto and parmesan.

[PetiteRaleuse]

Add a glass of wine or a spoonful of curry paste ( to taste obviously). I add a bit of pataks paste.

[ivykaty44]

I make tuscan bean soup with
all vegetables choppped up small

onion, garlic, carrots, celery or courgetts, smoked paprika, thyme, borotti beans, tinned tomato, stock and shredded cabbage, bring to boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes

serve as it is

I swap and change the vegetables around if I don't have one and have another I make do

I don't saute the onions either just put it all in the pot and bring to the boil

[CuriousMama]

Agree with above but sometimes just adding a stock cube can help?

[ByTheSea]

Beans are great in vegetable soup. Cannellini beans, kidney beans, borlotti beans... Definitely stock instead of water. Italian herb seasoning is nice as is Herbs de Provence.

[Charliefox]

Swirl some cream in. Makes (almost) any soup divine.

[starfishmummy]

For puree type soups I make chorizo croutons. Just fry cubes of bread and chorizo together so the bread soaks up the favoured fat from the chorizo

[joanofarchitrave]

Start by frying some bacon.

[Mintyy]

Did you start off with onion and garlic? Those are requisites, I would have thought.

[GreenShadow]

Do you blend the vegetables at all?
I would perhaps blend a small portion and leave the rest.

[ChinUpChestOut]

Bacon is in short supply in my neck of the woods, so I don't use it in soup. I didn't use onions and garlic this time, which may have been part of the reason it was so bleah. But DH's stock wasn't great, it has to be said.

I like the idea of adding beans - I've not put them in soup before. Roast pumpkin soup tomorrow - the ILs are coming on Wednesday, so it should have matured nicely by then. Any secret ingredients I could add just to wow MIL with my amazing soup making ability?

[Ponders]

not sure what you mean by exciting

I made potage bonne femme last weekend & it was utterly delicious, but probably not exciting

[milkmoustache]

Soup with no onions or garlic is just not going to be nice, I'm afraid. It's a law of nature. Or of soup. Promise yourself never to do it again.

[Jins]

I usually stir a spoonful of Dijon mustard into my frequent soup failures

[xkcdfangirl]

A massive slosh of wine would cheer up any soup
And yes you need more fat - spices don't release their roundness of flavour if there isn't enough fat cream, butter or a splash of olive oil, even a spoonful of mayonaise, these will all help.