I often roast tomatoes as they always taste nicer that way.

I am going to make a chowder tomorrow for lunch as I have not made it this year.

If making a butternut squash soup - using roasted squash is far superior to boiling this veg from its raw state. The baking concentrates the flavour magnificently. Goes well with tomato.

Carrot goes well with ginger in a soup - using peeled and finely diced the ginger up and lightly sauteed with diced carrots + red onions. Transfer to pan, squig of tomato puree - stir (to cook out) for 1 min then add some stock. Simmer till cooked & liquidise.

my veg soup is basically chop up whatever we have in and fry for a few minutes in a pan.

then add stock and simmer for 10 - 15 mins.

add salt, pepper and maybe a few spices and blend.

(although i usually add more liquid stock at the end)

I adore home made veggie soups & tend to make them every other day - this is a current fav:


Persian lentil & tomato soup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion , chopped finely
1 carrot , chopped finely
1 celery , chopped (optional)
2 -3 garlic cloves , crushed and minced
1 (15 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
4 cups vegetable stock or 4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup red lentil , rinsed
1 bunch parsley , chopped (or 2tbs dried)
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 -2 tablespoon sumac
1 dried lime (strongly preferred, but can substitute with 1/4 c lime or lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
Directions:

1
Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Cook until the onion is softened.
2
Stir in the turmeric and paprika. Add tomatoes and stock along with the dried lime. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. If the dried lime is still floating, cut it in half with a knife or kitchen scissors now that it is softened.
3
Add the lentils, return to a simmer. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes or until the lentils are cooked.
4
Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree half the soup, return to the pot.
5
Add sumac and parsley/other herbs, cook 5 minutes longer.
6
Serve hot with bread and a dollop of yogurt (optional).

Does anyone have a nice recipe for carrot and corriander soup and a nice parsnip soup?

I make my super veg soup by frying onion in a little oil, then adding chopped celery, carrot, sweet potato, some form of white potato, red pepper, parsnip, celeriac, butternut squash and swede and some sort of stock. I always add lots of garlic, black pepper and a pinch of cumin. After it's been blended completely, I hate lumpy soup, I add in some frozen peas and then add some dried chilli/pepper flakes to my serving as I love them in soup.

I make a roasted butternut squash and red pepper soup as well. I roast garlic, butternut squash and a red pepper until the squash is cooked then I add to browned onions and blend with stock. I add a little blue cheese at the end while it's still hot, it melts beautifully and gives it a creamy texture and a bit of a tang.

Nigella's recipe for brocolli and stilton soup is amazing too!

Commercial soups are often overly salted - that's where the 'flavour' comes from.

~1 KG of carrots- peeled and chopped

2 turnips- peeled and chopped

2 chopped shallots

Two teaspoons of fresh tarragon

Juice of 1 1/2 large oranges

Splash of Bandy

Chicken stock or vegetable stock or water


Soften carrots, turnips and shallots in butter then add just enough stock or water to cover the veg. Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature and cover. Simmer for about ten minutes or until everything is soft and puree-able. Blend everything to a smooth consistency, add orange juice, brandy and chopped tarragon, simmer for five minutes, adjust seasoning to taste, and serve!

I make carrot, corainder & red lentil soup - that's lovely.

Curried Parsnip soup is heavenly and dead easy to make.

A small cafe near here does a Curried Banana soup, which sounds very odd but the owner says when it's on the menu she sells out every time. People love it!

This is a great thread with lots of lovely recipes to try - and most of them veggie. I love it!

Babycakes, I use this recipe for carrot and coriander soup. It's really good.

Add a couple of handsful of porridge oats in when you add the (first lot of) stock. It will make the blended soup creamy and adds slow release energy.

I like making root vegetable soup its easy and foolproof you just chop up all your vegetables(personally I like white and red onion, Parsnips, Carrots, and Potatoes) and add them to a litre of vegetable or chicken stock you can roast the veg first as well if you want in spray oil as you don't want them too greasy and then blend when cooked and season to taste you can add cream at the end as well if you want.

I've never thought of adding oats to my soups but I've always got some in so i could try it..............wash you wash them first to get rid of the powdery starch ?

Thanks will try that

tinned tomatoes
caramelised onion
plenty garlic
oil, though i use butter, no respect for my arteries
cream
coarse black pepper
basil if liked, i prefer oregano or winter savory.

fry off the garlic in the oil, add tomatoes, herbs and pepper and heat.
take off the heat, stir in the cream.
chuck in or on the onions, croutons and cheese are nice with it too.

My son's school soup recipe - made it in domestic science classes in 2nd year. Brought it home in a flask and we loved it. Have made it countless times since. Yields enough for two, but you can double it up to suit, and it's dead easy from what most of us have at home.

1 large carrot, 1 onion, 1 large potato, chunk of turnip, 25g red lentils, 1 veg. stock cube, 1½ pints water, sprinkle of mixed herbs.
Dice the potato and onion, coarsely grate the carrot and turnip. Bring the water up to simmer, stir in stock cube, add the lentils. Then add the vegetables and mixed herbs, and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper to your taste and serve. Very plain soup but nice and quick

That's interesting - I'm happy putting carrots in a lot of soups, but if I'm making a vegatable soup I never include parsnips or swede because I think their flavour dominates too much. I'm sure it's just a matter of taste though.

I used to make lentil soup quite a bit but I got fed up of the 'scum'.............no matter how many times you wash them, how many times you skim the top of the water while they're cooking, there's always scum floating...................

No just pop them straight in as they are. The starch content is what thickens the soup and the oats add a creamy texture rather than the powdery residue potato can leave behind.



Yes, I must admit I have never put his advice into practice, but thought I would throw it out there all the same.

Talking of swede, as I am loathesome of waste and had the smallest amount left over, I once added some to a cottage pie I was making. Biggest mistake ever! My cottage pie just didn't taste like cottage pie.



I'm not sure if this will work for lentil soup (though I don't see why not), but when making jam a fingernail size of butter at the end of cooking disperses all the scum with no need for any wasteful skimming.

French Onion Soup - the quickest, easiest soup in the World:

Finely chop 4 onions
Sweat in a little butter till soft
Add 4 Red Oxo Cubes (I know!) and 1 pint water.

Cook for 10 minutes

Serve poured over slices of French bread covered in grated cheese and pop under a hot frill to melt the cheese.

This ^^ is what I usually do, just keep tasting and I don't put too much of any one veg as it can overpower the soup. It freezes so well.

My soup recipes aren't fixed as such, but involve boiling up a chicken carcass for hm stock. I usually add onion, garlic or leeks to the stock. Then can be a mixture of what veg, or pulses I have in my fridge, and cupboards such as red lentils, with carrots and spices, or tin chopped tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, chilli, and spices, or veg with canellini beans.

I use anything, and it needs little, or no preparation, except peeling as use my slow cooker.

I make vegetable soup using onions lightly fried, then adding water and ham stock using two ham stock cubes, a couple of sticks of celery, a couple of carrots, a turnip rather than swede or parsnips, a red pepper and some pepper from the pepper mill and a few mixed herbs. When the vegetables are nearly cooked I add some frozen garden peas.

I make a Minestrone type soup that gives lots of flavour for little effort.

Fry some cubed pancetta in a bit of olive oil for two mins.
Add one chopped onion, two carrots and one to two sticks of celery and sweat for another two mins.
Add one to two cloves of minced garlic, quick stir round the pan, then put in a couple of squirts of tomato puree and one tin of chopped tomatoes.
Pour on one litre of chicken stock, season then put a lid on and simmer for 40mins.
After 40mins is up stir in a handful of small pasta shapes or broken up spaghetti and some shredded green cabbage. Cook until pasta is done and top off with some Parmesan.

Very true. They seldom have herbs in them.