please post your yummiest soups recipes!

[chrispackhamslovebunny]

its getting cold and im rubbish with food most of the time - some nights i do a full jamies 30 minute meal and love it but other times if its just me and the kids who wont eat anything "fancy" i end up cooking them rubbish and grabbing a bowl of cereal.
i realise thats not great and someone today suggested soups. and i thought "of course!" soups!"
i could freeze them.
i could take them to work.
the kids love soup and they are healthy and nutritional.

so the only snag is i havent a clue where to start!
please can you post your yummiest recipes (nothing too taxing though!) for me to whip up some nutritious and delicious soups?

ive only got a hand blender but it does the job.

ta in advance!

Staples in our house

Cheese and broccolli (trying to get green veg into kids!)

big bunch of spring onions/garlic sweated in oil, two big heads of broccolli cut up. just about cover with marigold stock and soften, add tub of philadelphia cheese and blend

Red Lentil and Tomato

Sweat onion and garlic in oil, add cup of red lentils, marigold stock, tin tomatoes, grated medium potato, soften and blend

This is a good soup using a packet of filled pasta go further.

NCG soup of the month last October was Witches Brew. Toms, pumpkin and some kind of delicious bean/lentil yumminess
Froze some but would love something similar as this year's isn't as good

Similar to kerpob but Broccoli/spinach/any greens and stilton.

Onions, garlic sweated, good pinch of nutmeg, green veg added and veg/chicken stock. Then blend and add a chunk of stilton - I usually use a whole slice (could be done the other way round - ie blend first).

Another one is pearl barley and lamb neck - base of onions/garlic, lamb neck diced, add whatever winter veg you fancy (I usually do carrot, celery, perhaps courgette) and lamb stock, a couple of bay leaves and some rosemary if you fancy. Then add pearl barley - About a cup. It end up thick and a bit glutinous due to the lamb (which some people may hate but I love), almost like a stew. Sorry no quantities - I just throw in whatever and do it by eye, which isn't terribly helpful!

Tomato soup: 2 sticks of celery, 2 carrots, 2 onions, 2 cloves garlic, 6 fresh tomatoes (skin and seed if you want, I don't bother) 2 tins plum tomatoes. Chop, Sweat onions, garlic and celery til translucent, add everything else plus 1pt chicken stock (or veg stock) simmer til all veg tender and puree. Season to taste. Yum! You can also add basil. This is Jamie Olivers btw, Or the version of it I make, lost the book ages ago!

Really, really easy potato and leek: Peel several big potatoes, chop two onions and sweat for aa few mins in oil, add one bag of frozen leeks (they're good for nothing else!) Or three fresh ones chopped, cover with chicken/veg stock, simmer until tender (about 15-20 mins) and puree. Tastes best with lots of black pepper.

Saute whatever veggies you've got in olive oil, then boil with chicken stock and bung in a lot of cooked beans (black, usually.) Puree and reheat. Add some milk or butter if you want. Good stuff. :)

I love soup and always have a pot of something on the stove in winter.

Top tip for spicy soup lovers is to add a dollop of curry paste (usually Pataks Madras paste) to the veg and stock. This saves me dithering around adding individual spices, and makes lentil or veg soup nicely spicy. This is the way I get spicy lentil and tomato soup, spicy parsnip soup, spicy tomato and veg soup etc. If I'm using sweet potatoes as a base, I'll add a tin of coconut milk and a dollop of red thai curry paste instead.

this is my favourite ever soup, veggies, red lentils & lots of ginger

Carrot and coconut, google for recipe.

My basic recipe is:

One onion
One bag of carrots
One head of broccoli
One large baking potato
One kettle of water
Two stock cubes

Chop and fry onion, chop other veg and add to pan with water and stock cubes until veg are soft then blend.

Surprisingly good and makes loads.

ooh, you've all inspired me! Made veg soup for tea from sauteed leeks and celery, then added chunks of sweet potato, broccoli, carrotts and chicken stock and cooked till all soft. Blended and ate. Yum!

Leek soup

Sweat 3 or 4 sliced leeks and 1 sliced onion in butter on a low heat for 20 minutes with the lid on. Pour on a kettle full of boiling water and add 2 knorr chicken stock cubes. Bring to bubbling point then turn down and simmer for about 20 minutes but the timing is flexible. Take out a mug full of soup, blend the rest then stir back in the mug with a generous grind or 5 of black pepper.

Dh adds half a pack of chopped feta cheese to his, ds has been known to empty a packet of Monster Munch in as croutons

a favourite soup of mine is Cauliflower
we used to make it all the time at college, it is very easy -

1 cauliflower chopped
1 potato peeled & chopped into large chunks
1 onion chopped
25g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1.2l veg stock
600ml full fat milk
142ml double cream

1.Put the cauliflower, potato and onion in a large saucepan with the butter and oil. Sweat over a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vegetables should be soft but not coloured.

2.Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, then pour in the milk and return gently to a boil. Season, then simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Pour in half the cream.

3.Whizz until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and re-heat until piping hot. Serve.

i dont like cauliflower as a vegetable but as a soup it is delish

If you haven't guessed, I'm a huge sweet potato fan (they are an incredibly nutritious vegetable). Here is another of my staples. Very easy and everyone who tastes it goes away with the recipe (courtesy of Nadine Abensur)

Sweet potato and tamarind soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion diced
at least 4 garlic cloves crushed
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 litre stock (made with one teaspoon Marigold bouillon)
1 tablespoon tamari (jars cost approx £2 from Sainsbury etc)
2cm piece of ginger, grated and squeezed. Keep the liquid from the ginger.

Heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic and sweat for 5 mins
Add sweet potatoes and saute for 5 mins.
Add stock, simmer, covered until ltender (about 10 mins)
Stir in tamari, ginger juice, Tabasco and 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste. Salt and pepper.
Blend until smooth.

olivia you could try to spice it up into a pumpkin daal?
-genrlt fry garlic,onion, tumeric, cinamon, cumin and garam masala. Add pumpkin and a diced tomato.add daal lentils.

• cover with syock and simmer for 30mn.

The key to a creamy daal is to whisk it all briskly in the end, rater than blending.

Forgot the ginger of course! Grated or powder. Add to spice mix.

Roast pumpkin flesh smeared with groundnut oil till tender.

Slowly cook onions in butter and oil, about 20 minutes.

Add pumpkin flesh then top with milk and chicken or veg stock, simmer gently for 20 minutes or so.

Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whizz till smooth.

Serve with croutons and tiny cubes of gruyere cheese stirred through the warm soup.

Tis wonderful, truly.

Indian Dhal is a great winter warmer and also great for keeping colds at bay with all the ginger and garlic in it.

What you need:

Half a packet of red split lentils (put in a bowl with double the amount of water to lentils and microwave on full power for 20 min)
A thumb size piece of root ginger (peeled)
4 cloves of garlic
1 large onion
4 medium to large potatoes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp of Thyme (dried or fresh)
1 handful of coriander roughly chopped
1/4 tsp chilli powder (more if you want it really spicy)
Salt to season and water to top up.

What to do:

Blend ginger and garlic together (if using a hand blender, just add a little water to make it blend easier)
Fry off the chopped onion with ginger and garlic.
Add potatoes and fry for a couple of mins. Season with salt.
Add the lentils with the water they were cooked in the microwave with (if this in enough liquid to look like soup great, if not top it up a little)
Add the Thyme and chilli powder.
Bring to the boil and then simmer until potatoes and lentils are cooked through.
Once potatoes are cooked add Tin of Tomatoes and cook for a further 5 to 10 min then just before serving add the Coriander.

If you make this thin it's like soup.

If you let it thicken, it is great on top of basmati rice as a main meal.

It sounds a little involved, but it all cooks within 30 min once you have done the lentils in the microwave. And I normally get everything else blended and chopped while the lentils are cooking away.

It is my families favorite and gets requested all the time. In fact, i am off to make it now, just put myself in the mood for it. :)

I make something similar to the Indian Dhal, but I also add a tin of tomatoes and tin of coconut.
lots of lime or lemon juice to serve.

Sorry, just saw lerees has toms in as well.
I don't precook the lentils though. [lazy]

This is the fastest and simplest ever - salted boiling water, drop a few diced potatoes.
When ready add some crumbled feta cheese, which will melt.
Serve with cracked black pepper, lemon and some butter - so it melts in the soup.

This Riverford one is a pan of deliciousness. I have their book but I just found a gazillion more soup recipes on their website when I looked up this one www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/soups_and_stews_recipes/ .

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2cm piece of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 cardamom pods
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 leek (white part only), finely chopped
4-5 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander
400ml coconut milk
600ml hot vegetable stock

Method

Heat the butter and oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute. Add the carrot, celery and leek, reduce the heat and cook for 5 minutes.
Finally add the parsnip chunks and half the chopped coriander. Mix thoroughly and cook for 2 minutes, then pour in the coconut milk and hot stock. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and cover and cook for 15?20 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
Cool slightly and blitz in a food processor or with a handheld blender. Reheat gently, season to taste and sprinkle with the rest of the chopped coriander.

i tend to make soup with leftovers.... last week i made,

tomato, carrot, apple and pear soup.

it has a lovely sweet and sour taste.

Some of my favourite:

Roast Butternut and Red Pepper Soup

Chickpea and Chorizo Soup

Sweet Potatoes and Red Lentils Soup

Vegetable Soup

Spiced Parsnip and Apple

knob of butter, glug of olive oil
1 leek
2 or 3 eating apples
4 parsnips
1 potato (largish but not quite baking potato size)
1 and a half pints of stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 teaspoons tikka paste

Heat the butter and oil over a medium heat and sweat the leek for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the parsnip and potato, and peel, core and chop the apples. Add them to the pan and stir over a high heat for a few minutes.

Add the stock and tikka paste and bring to the boil, then simmer till the veg is cooked through. Blend. Sometimes it needs a bit more water added at the end to get the consistency right. My toddler DD loves this.

We also like this one, but I add more spices Carrot and Lentil soup