Onion soup over a slice of Welsh rarebit.
Proper lunch, that.

Curry lentil soup

Sauté 1 chopped onion in oil, add a tsp each of garam masala, paprika, and curry powder. Continue to sauté until onions absorb spices. Add 2 peeled and chopped potatoes, 4-5 peeled and chopped carrots, 3/4 cup red lentils, and 1.8 litres vegetable stock. Stir well, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

I like to blitz mine into a thick, smooth consistency, but you could eat it chunky. It's warming but not too spicy.

Vegetable soup

Heat up oil in a pot, add finely chopped onion, carrot, celery, add paprika after a while, then quickly (paprika has a tendency to burn) add frozen pea, red bell pepper cut in small pieces, fresh chili if you like spicy, dry porcini mushrooms that you soaked in water a few minutes before, garlic cut into small pieces, cubed potatoes. Let it cook for a while stirring it. Season with salt, black pepper, and cumin. Add water, let it cook for about 20 minutes. Add a handful of any small pasta, you can make your own just by mixing flour with water, tearing it in little pieces, cook for 5 more minutes. Add fresh chopped parsley. You can add some also at the beginning, but it loses colour. It smells nicely, careful with the carrot so the soup is not too sweet. You want about 1/2 or 1/3 of vegetables, the rest the liquid, but that just my preference.

Finished my pea soup yesterday........I spread it out to 4 days by having it for the last two days on a plate with mashed potatoes........it was so thick !

that was delicious.......mashed potatoes and pea stew........

I've made a panful of Leek and Potato today which looks like a 4-Dayer

No frying

pint of water in a pan........chop up an onion, a carrot and some garlic and put it in the water and simmer. Add two teaspoons marigold vegetable bouillon (I'm sure other powdered stocks are available but I think this is the best !)

Now the leek,

Very important that you chose a good leek.......you want one with lots of the tough green leaves at the top. Those trimmed ones in packets are no good for soup

I just bought one large rough looking leek

Cut off the bottom half, the white bit, chop it up, wash it and stick in the pan. This is going to dissolve and thicken the soup

add a couple of largish potatoes, peeled and diced

final thing to go in is the tough green bits of the leek........wash very thoroughly to get all the dirt off, chop up and add to pan.

By this time you'll have had to add another pint of water

simmer for another twenty minutes or so.

that's 'tea' for the next four days !

That leek and potato soup sounds lovely.

Has anyone got a fail safe chicken soup recipe? I tried making one once using a roast chicken carcass and it came out green!

I like cream of white onion soup or cream of chicken / root veg

I think the mistake most people make, especially with poultry carcass type soups, is tossing everything in the pot and fishing the undesirable bits out later.

First make stock:
A roasted poultry carcass- chicken, turkey, whathaveyou. Reserve rhe larger pieces of meat for the actual soup. Use the bony pieces for the stock.
Then plenty of water to cover
Aromatics - onion, celery, parsley, carrots, bay leaf, peppercorn
Salt to taste

Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for at least a couple of hours. If you use a large crockpot you can cook it overnight.

When it smells like rich stock strain all the smushy vegetables and the bones and skin out. Discard them.
Let the broth rest so the fat can rise. If you have somewhere cold to let it rest so much rhe better because you can remove solid fat instead of doing endless skimming.

Now you can make soup!

Dice the vegetables you want in it: potatoes, celery, onion, green peans, what have you.
Cooks choice: saute them in a bit of fat first or just add to a pot of simmering broth.
Add the reserved meat that has been chopped into bite sized pieces.
Correct the seasonings.
Simmer together for an hour or so, until the vegetables are tender and the flavors are blended.
If you want noodle or rice soup add them in about 15 or 20 minutes prior to serving.

Obviously this is a very flexible recipe, but it has served me well over the years.

Thanks for this Maggie. I shall give it a go.

Enjoy!

I roast a butternut squash whole.
Then peel and chop, add fried onions, black pepper, stock, then blend
Potatoes, carrots, parnips could also be added too or a combination of any of them. Sometimes I add a little cumin too.

Tomato soup.
Roast a tray of tomatoes until softened, drizzled with oil & seasonings such as black pepper, thyme.
Add to saucepan with stock and a few fried onions. Again, I blend until smooth

Tomato and bacon. Chop a pack of bacon into small pieces, fry with the onion.

For filling soups, you might like to try Jamacian soup recipes. They are very tasty
http://www.jamaicandinners.com/jamai...can-soups.html