Homemade Soup - What's your recipe?

[Zebraa]

I want something really hearty that will feed the 5,000. I love soup but all the recipes I try end up a little bit bland.

I like everything so all ingredients welcome

Jamie Olivers Minestrone which is in one of his frist books is lovely - you grate parmesan in it when you serve it with crusty brown bread - is always a winner in this family.

I like it because I hate pureed kinda soups - they have such a weird texture!

here

ok heres my fave i got from grannie
1 litre of stock - i use ham or veg
a big onion
about 4 carrots
about 5 or 6 tatties
lots of s & p
simmer til tatties start to break
mash with a tattie masher

hey presto

the key is lots of pepper - yum!

dead cheap too

Carrots
Chop any old how
Dash of salt, black pepper
Boil until soft with a veggie oxocube

Blend with handblender until smooth
Dash of cream
Another quick blend

Voila

Was going to suggest Jamie Olivers minestrone too- dd has loved it since she was quite small, so I make up a bit batch every couple of weeks. Really really easy and delicious

omg i love spicy parsnip soup

Fry onions, celery, carrots in a little butter (all chopped obviously). Add stock, diced pots, french beans on simmer until pots are soft, add cooked chicken, plenty of seasoning and small pasta (if desired), you can omit pasta and puree if prefered but we like our soup chunky. Can also add things like lentil, pearl barley etc to make it more filling.

If you don't like curried foods, I assume you could leave the curry powder out?

Have just got into soup making, and am loving it!

I use whatever veg I have in the fridge, today it was carrots and celery. Always use onions, soften them up in a tiny bit of olive oil. Then add a packet powered soup like a knorr noodle and veg one, usually one pack is one litre, chuck in either chopped up bacon or pancetta and a tin of beans (not baked!) borlotti, butter bean or kidney whatever your preference.

v quick and easy minestrone.

I've made carrot and ginger today. Very nice.

How do your store the soup between meals and when/if freezing?

I'm going to give these recipes a good crack! I feel like a proper housewife now!

Mostly only make it with leftovers and it all goes on the day or next day. We rarely miss a meal in this house
I should think most soups would freeze pretty well though.

The secret of good soup, IMO, is in the sweating of the veg. Make sure that before you add any stock, you fry the vegetables very gently (they shouldn't brown) for as long as you can - at least ten mins. I never had much luck with soup until someone told me that and it transformed the soup from watery and flavourless to proper soup.

My favourites are lentil soup (best with good ham stock) and pumpkin or butternut squash soup made with a pinch of ground cloves and a scraping of nutmeg (my children also love both). Spinach with orange juice is also v good, and parsnip with lemon juice.

My fave at the moment is lentil, carrot and tomato:

fry an onion and a stick of celery (celery makes everything nice somehow). throw in some lentils and leave for a minute, then add 2 tins toms, veg stock and a glass of orange juice. i like it quite stocky because I'm not keen on the pulpy texture you get with lentils if it's too thick but it's up to you. Bring to boil, season and simmer for 20 mins. Blend.

Eat. Yum yum.

My tip would be to keep the rinds from parmesan and chuck them in while it's simmering, remove before serving. Gives it a lovely savoury flavour.

Ooh I forgot the carrot in my recipe! Chop fine-ishly and cook with the onion.

house favourite of the moment is corn chowder ... I made some a few days ago and it barely made it to the next day... DH can no longer tel me he hates sweetcorn though..

I do 5-4-3-2-1 soup most weeks
5 leeks
4 carrots
3 sticks celery
2 onions
1 large spud

It's a cheap way of using up end-of-week veg and with some good stock (M & S concentrate from a jar), plenty of pepper like naily says, and herbs, it's lovely.

Carrot & ginger at the minute

Sweat finely sliced carrot in butter until very soft
Add 1 pint of chicken stock (or veg stock if any veggies to be fed)
Season with salt & pepper
Add pinch of ground ginger to taste
Simmer for 20 mins then leave to cool (overnight is realy good as flavours intensify)
Blitz in a blender
Reheat and add a swirl of cream

my favourite chicken soup

brown about four skinned drumsticks or thighs in a little oil. Remove. Soften loads of chopped onions, celery, spring onions, fennel (or any of these, don't need all, I just like it that way!). Then add several cloves of chopped garlic, soften briefly, add good chicken or vegetable stock (home made chicken is best, or that swiss vegetable bouillon powder if not), chopped parsley and the browned chicken. Cook until chicken is tender and coming off the bone, discard bones and chop or shred chicken meat back in soup. Add fine noodles if you like, plenty more chopped parsley and black pepper.

This is great for shaking off a cold, according to my ex-mil (and she's right on this one!) and is absolutely delicious. I eat mine with hot pepper sauce, but I'm weird like that

I'm making Nigella's Butternut Squash and sweet potato soup, it's lovely, I prefer it without the marsala wine though.