For someone who has never made soup before...

[sparklefarts]

Where do you start?
I want to up my veg and have less. Arms so am going to make a vegetable soup for lunches.
Anyone have a fool proof recipe? The internet has so many I'm confusing myself!

I make soup every week. Basic process for a vegetable one is chop an onion,couple of carrots,couple of potatoes, glove of garlic. Melt a blob of butter and stir veggies in it for a couple of minutes. Add a pint of either vegetable or chicken stock ( I use the blob things). Bring to the boil, reduce and simmer until veg is soft and then blitz. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste.
The above is very basic. I would always add red lentils too which means more stock as they absorb liquid. Other options would be to add chopped bacon, sweet corn, or pretty much anything you fancy!!

Clove of garlic, not glove!!!
Another easy one is roast two chopped red peppers and some tomatoes and garlic. Remove skins from peppers and tomatoes if you can be bothered, I usually don't.
Chuck all into a pan with juices,add chopped onion, stock and cook as before. Add a big handful of fresh basil at the end of cooking time.

Easiest soup recipe ever I do is

Pour half a pack of frozen casserole veg into large saucepan, add water until just covered.
Add 2 vegetable stock cubes, a cup of dried red lentils and salt and pepper.
Cook for half hour or so until veg is soft then blend to whatever consistency you like.

You can have as is or add cumin/curry powder at the end to make curried vegetable soup.

This does enough for 5 lunches for me.

Oh thank you!

I keep talking about Batch cooking things and soup recipes etc, my Oh is going to think I've had a knock on the head!

Easy peasy one based on a Levi Roots recipe:

Roast 2 chopped sweet potatoes, 2 red peppers cut into chunks, 2 red onions quartered, 3 carrots cut into chunks, about 8 cherry tomatoes in a bit of olive oil until soft (probably about 40 mins). Add 2 teaspoons of that ginger in a tube, a teaspoon of paprika, a teaspoon cumin. Blend in two batches, adding half a tin of coconut milk plus a glass of water to each batch. Pour into wiped out pan. Add salt and pepper and more water if needed and warm it up when ready to eat. Can tweak the spices/vegetable ratio as wished.

Really depends what flavours and vegetables you actually enjoy eating!

Unhelpfully, I love all veg!
Am liking the sound of the living roots one tho
Thank you

Fry chopped onions in a saucepan, add stock cube and boiled water from kettle. Add whatever chopped veg you want. Cook until the veg is soft. Whizz up with blender. Serve.
No need to peel potatoes first, the whizzed-up skin adds a nice bit of texture and fibre.

Love this thread

Pretty much all the New Covent Garden recipes are delicious - I've got the 365 Days of Soup book but most of them are on their website I think.

Oh and for general eating-more-veg inspiration, I really recommend the River Cottage/HFW Veg Everyday book. Yum.

I onion + garlic softened in a little oil

Add 500g of any vegetables. Plus one potato.

Plus 1 litre of vegetable stock.

Easy peasy. I often add a handful of red lentils, and a chilli.

Mine and my kids' favourite (and the first soup I cooked, aged 34) is the Mumsnet sweet potato one:

Peel and chop 900g sweet potatoes and 1 x baking potato

Fry off a diced onion until soft

Add the potatoes, with 1 pint stock made with one of those veg stock melts.

Bring to the boil then simmer for 25mins, or until cooked.

Blitz with hand blender, and add more water if you like a thinner soup (I like mine so I can stand my spoon up in it !).

Just made Chelsea26's recipe, delicious. Do you usually wash the lentils before adding them in?

My mother taught me to make soup, by frying a chopped onion in a small amount of fat or oil, while you work out what kind of soup to make. Starting with onion fried on a very low heat for some time helps it taste good. Why it gets going, look out flavour of soup to make and add initially to the frying onion, then add stock and simmer til done. Season (add spices during the frying stage and add stock only after adding spices) and consider hoe the 'finish', a swirl of yoghurt, a sprinkling of herbs, or bacon bits etc can lift the end results. Enjoy.

Another thing, resist putting everything into every soup. Its more fun to have different, discernible flavours: onion and celery, onion and mushroom etc

Fry 1 clove garlic in oil, add 5 chopped sundried Tomatoes (the ones in oil, I use the oil to fry the garlic) stir for about a minute. Add three cans of chopped tomatoes and 500ml of stock. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Blend with a small pot of sources cream. Super easy!

A chef I used to work with said the secret to soup is to sweat your veg for ages. Chop it down, onion, carrot, tatties, leek, turnip, whatever you're using and add butter, wee bit of salt and pepper and really low heat for 45 mins. Add garlic if using for last 10 mins. It brings the flavour right out.

As everyone else says, start with an onion, then chuck in whatever veg you have and a bit of stock. I bring to the boil, then put on really low for 45mins - 1 hr. whizz up with a blender and you have a yummy soup! I like leek and potato, or carrot and coriander is good. Usually it's just leftover veg - I try not to throw anything away! Broccoli stalks are really good, full of goodness. Or you can roast some veg then add to some stock and whizz. I like to experiment with herbs and spices too, a bit of chilli is tasty and warms up a winter soup!

] imsopretty - I don't bother - as you've discovered I'm an extremely low effort/max results kind of woman!

Basically everything that PP have said. Personally I use chicken stock in all soup recipes rather than vegetable stock, its a nicer flavour I reckon.

Pea and ham soup is really easy, sweat an onion, add frozen peas (petite plus taste nice) and cover with veg stock, cook for 5 mins then blend. Chuck in some cooked ham +/- a bit of a cream. You can buy packs of shredded ham hock which are perfect or I use leftovers of we've cooked a big ham. Ready in 10 mins and you only have to chop an onion.
Good stock makes a huge difference whichever soup you make. I like the Kallo organic ones if I don't have fresh.

Just made chilli and squash soup this evening! Really simple:
1 butternut squash
1 large(ish) sweet potato
1-2 courgettes
4-5 mixed chillies (fewer if it's spicier varieties)

Simmer on low heat until softened, then use a hand-held blender to turn into mush! Add 1 tin of coconut milk and 1 tin of sweetcorn, season with pepper, done.

Note: this soup varies every time I make it due to the squash and sweet potato being different sizes, chillies varying in heat, sometimes I blend it when they're not so soft (crunchier texture) and sometimes I let it simmer for too long (super smooth); but it's always really delicious!