It’s been growing increasingly autumnal here so I thought I’d
treat us to a good thick vegetable soup.
I managed to pick up some nice soup mix from Sainsbury’s recently (a
mixture of dried peas, lentils, beans and barley) which made a good hearty soup.
It’s difficult to give exact quantities, because much
depends on appetite and how many serves you want. Similarly, the actual ingredients can be
varied to your own personal taste. I
bought as many different kinds of root vegetables as I could lay my hands on at
the time!
For three or four serves I used :
1 medium leek
½ a medium swede (rutabaga)
1 large carrot
2 small turnips
2 ribs of celery
½ large celeriac (celery root)
1 large parsnip
100 g soup mix
Vegetable (or chicken) stock
Seasoning to taste
If you are going to use the soup mix, you will need to give
it an overnight soak. Then simply drain
and cook according to the instructions.
Mine needed a good 10 minute boil and then 40 minutes rapid
cooking. I started cooking it while I
prepared the root vegetables.
Halve the leek and then cut the halves into slices. Peel and dice the swede, carrot, turnips,
celeriac and parsnip. Chop the celery
ribs into rough pieces.
When the soup mix has had the required cooking time add the prepared
vegetables to the pan and top up with boiling water if necessary. Add the stock cube/pot/powder to the water
and stir, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the vegetables gently for 30 minutes or so (depending on size),
until cooked through.
This was good on the first day, even better on the
second. Sadly, there wasn’t a third day!
