Homemade soup...what's your secret ingredient?

[desperate4spring]

I'm on a mission towards zero food-waste in our house so am starting to explore the realm of homemade soup.
So far I'm planning to chuck leftover veg into a pan of water and boil until smushy. Then chuck in some other yummy ingredients (?) and blend...

Am I on the right lines? What other stuff do I put in to make it taste nice??

@VenetiaLytton

I think the magic ingredient is butter (must be real butter) - and you don't need very much for a spectacular difference.

Melt the butter over a gentle heat then add all your non-liquid ingredients, coat with butter then cover and leave on a low heat for 20 minutes to sweat. Then add liquid, seasoning mush up etc.

As a guid to how much butter, I use 25 g for leek and potato soup using 6 leeks, 1 onion and 2 potatoes.

Exactly what I came to say.

Also odd potato even if not potato based soup give it a bit of bulk and oddly broccoli helps with this too.

If veg like tomatoes peppers etc roasting the veg can also help

I made soup last week. A large sweet potato, six carrots, a whole onion, some left over brocolli, peppers, spinach and cauliflower. I used vegetable stock and added four cloves of garlic and chilli paste and a ton of black pepper. Absolutely lovely!

Red lentils
Marigold vegan stock powder (much tastier than the one with milk in it)
Garlic

If I want to thicken the soup I'd either sweat onion first in oil or butter and then add flour, or include potatoes. I tend to use stock pots or bouillon powder and add a small amount of cayenne to give the flavour depth.

Marigold bouillon powder.

A stone

If you’re not vegetarian, everything tastes better with bacon or butter or cheese or cream. Or some or all of them.

You’ll want some carbs to go with all that fat + accompanying vegetables. So, croutons, garlic bread, baguette etc.

By the end of it, “vegetable soup” tends to be gilding the lily a bit

Agree, sweating the veg in nice butter does give a nicer flavour, I use a knob of butter and a dash of olive oil. Then homemade bone broth and only a bit of plain water, otherwise it would have no flavour. Or could be vegetable stock version of course. Obviously you can buy this or use some sort of pre prepared stock, but the taste isn't anything like as good.

Chicken stock from the bones.

Stock
Herbs
Pumpkin.

Kale (soooo tasty in soups), a really good vegetable stock, onions and garlic (fried).

You need to use stock or it will taste dreadfully bland!

It's also best to start with a good base I sauté off frozen diced onions, lazy garlic and celery if I have it in, it's at this stage I'll add any spices too to fry them off and release their flavours

I'll also add (not all at once depends on ingredients, what's available and mood etc)

Tomato purée
Marmite
Henderson's relish
Herbs (fresh or dried)
Freshly ground black pepper
Sweet chilli sauce
Butter
Cream or milk
Salt
Cheese
Quorn bacon
Wine
Port

Agree with pp often tastes better if you roast the veggies first my best recipe inc roasting a butternut squash with peeled whole garlic cloves in the space left by deseeding

But yea just boiling up veggies in water is not gonna taste good

Absolutely use stock (not water), plus save your Parmesan rinds to add into minestrone or vegetable soup (and fish out before serving!) to give a richer flavour.

I used to do this then I realised I was making 'misery soup', unappetising beige slush I often ended up throwing away.

Take all the unwanted veg and make stock, maybe with meat bones if you have them - a pressure cooker makes this very fast!

Then have an actual flavour you are going for. This can be one main type of veg plus one main flavour, eg spicy parsnip, carrot and coriander, sweet potato and chilli.

Sweat onion and garlic then add veg to sweat then stock.

Then, crucially, you need a bit of fat in some form - cream, milk, creamed coconut, a dash of oil, meat with a bit of fat in. The fat molecules help your mouth taste the flavour better, without them you might as well drink the water that veg has been boiled in.

Plenty of salt and pepper. If it's smooth then add some croutons, pomegranate, toasted seeds etc to make it interesting.

Agree with all the others - good base, sweat veg in butter/olive oil (or onion at least), add good veg or chicken stock and herbs/spices for seasoning.
And crucially pick a flavour (2/3 veg that go together). Add much less liquid than you think you need for a thick, filling soup full of flavour.
Some of my favourites are courgette, pea and mint; carrot, celeriac and coconut milk (roast veg first); and carrot, sweet potato and lentil (I sometimes add a leek with the onions at the start). Removing the cooked veg from the stock and blending separately then putting liquid back in gives a smoother consistency.

Pudding rice is nice in chicken soup - just a tablespoon or so. The rice flour seems to thicken the soup slightly but leaves it clear and the rice is a good carb if you are adding anything for that.

I blanch & save veg ends & scraps in a freezer bag in the freezer to make basically free minestrone ... added cheese makes all the difference to that

always start with browning an onion in butter and cooking down a little vinegar (balsamic or malt) until sticky before adding veg and water.

a potato makes soup creamy without adding cream.

some cheese (you know that dried up shrivelled thing from the back of the fridge) is also nice. grated in to melt into the soup.

if you have the rind of parmesan gives flavour. but you have to fish it out before blending.

boullion

Broccoli (frozen is fine) or any veg
Half a stock cube
Couple of cloves of garlic and any other herbs you have
Tumeric for it's magical powers rather than flavour
Bung into a soupmaker with just enough water to cover
When cooked and blended add an inch square lump of Stilton (magic ingredient) and give another quick blend

A really good food processor helped me eliminate food waste, i got a Thermomix and it’s Life changing for me. Not for everyone and they operate weirdly (may try to recruit you) but the actually machine is amazing.

You can use a hand held potato masher to quickly break up ingredients rather than liquidise.

I second kale as a flavourful veg in soup but it can vary with different types of kale.

Add double cream before serving - you don't need much, about a tablespoon.

Agree re the butter and always soften onions/garlic in it to start the soup off.

Also agree with using a stock cube rather than just plain water.

But my SECRET ingredient is celery 😊 Chop loads and loads, even the old floppy stuff, and add at the onion/garlic stage so that it also softens in the butter.

It adds incredible flavour!