French onion soup

This is a really easy soup which can be made at any time of the year.  Today it was made because of the poor state of this year's onions from the garden - they are just too wet and won't keep so we will be forced to find recipes to cook and keep them so they don't go off.

This recipe is from the Cranks Recipe Book, which I have had for about 25 years, but it's an old favourite.  It's been cooked so often that the book has fallen apart at that page.

Ingredients:

2 large onions

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1.5 pints veg stock (900ml)

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp yeast extract (marmite)

Salt and pepper

Croutons and cheddar cheese to serve

Finely slice the onions.  Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onions until golden brown.  Add the remaining ingredients, bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Serve with wholemeal croutons and grated cheese.

Serves 4

Carrot and Coriander Soup

This soup always goes down well and can be made at any time of the year.  I made it with the new delicious spring carrots from Blackwell Produce in Melbourne that had been picked the same morning and were still being washed when I turned up to buy them!  I just scrubbed the carrots and didn't even bother to peel them, to get the extra flavour and goodness from the new skins. This level of freshness gave a really intense flavour to the soup.  Ingredients
2 lb (900 g) carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon coriander seeds (or ground coriander is OK)
1 oz (25 g) butter
1 small clove garlic, crushed
2 pints (1.2 litres) chicken or vegetable stock
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander, plus 6 small sprigs, to garnish
3 tablespoons crème fraîche
salt and freshly ground black pepper

This recipe first appeared in The Delia Collection: Soup.

Method

Begin by dry-roasting the coriander seeds in a small frying pan over a medium heat, stirring and tossing them around for 1-2 minutes, or until they begin to look toasted and start to jump in the pan. Now tip them into a pestle and mortar and crush them coarsely.

Next, heat the butter in a large saucepan, then add the chopped carrots, garlic and three-quarters of the crushed coriander seeds. Stir the carrots in the buttery juices and crushed seeds, then cover the pan and let the vegetables cook over a gentle heat until they are beginning to soften – about 10 minutes. Next, add the stock and season with salt and pepper and bring everything up to the boil.
Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for a further 15-20 minutes, partially covered, or until all the vegetables are tender. Leave the soup to cool a little, then you can liquidise the whole lot in batches (a large bowl to put each batch in is helpful here). After that, return the purée to the pan and stir in the chopped fresh coriander and 2 tablespoons of the crème fraîche. Re-heat the soup, then taste to check the seasoning and serve in warmed bowls and garnish each one with a swirl of crème fraîche, a sprinkling of the remaining toasted coriander seeds and a sprig of fresh coriander.

Pea, lettuce and mint soup

This is a great way to use lettuces that have gone to seed.  I got the peas (fresh ready to be shelled) from Blackwell Produce in Melbourne, and the lettuce and mint were from my garden.

(serves 4)

50g butter
1tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 baby gem lettuces, core removed and shredded
500g frozen garden peas
750ml good quality vegetable stock (preferably homemade)
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
150ml creme fraiche
a small bunch of mint, chopped fine

In a heavy based saucepan melt the butter over medium heat togther with the olive oil.

Sautee the onion until soft and translucent stirring regularly. You want to sautee them slowly, as they are not supposed to go crispy and brown.

Add the shredded lettuce and saute for a couple of minutes before adding the peas.

Continue to cook for 5 minutes or so.

Add the stock and bring to a simmer.

Remove from the heat and liquidise with a stick blender or by carefully puring it into a liquidiser.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Return to the heat and warm through.

Remove from the heat before finally stirring in the creme fraiche.

Sprinkle with mint and serve with your favourite crusty bread.

Courgette soup

This is the easiest soup in the world, which can be rustled up at the last minute with any glut of courgettes that invariably come in summer. You can even leave out the potato if you want a quicker soup.  Even avid courgette haters love this one - and you can have good fun asking people to guess what the soup is, as it tastes much more exotic than courgettes.

Serves: 6

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 large courgettes, chopped
• 3 large potatoes, chopped
• 375ml water, to cover
• 2 veg stock cubes
• 3 tablespoons cream (optional)
• salt and pepper

Preparation method
Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 20 mins 

1.

Saute onion, courgette and potato with a tablespoon of butter.

2.

Add enough water to cover, add stock cubes and cook until veg is tender.

3.

Blend and mash the veg (with fluid still in pot). Add the cream to taste (put more in if you prefer it creamier).

4.

Serve with salt and pepper to taste

Asparagus soup

This was a cheap soup as I used only onions, veg stock and the woody stalks of the home-grown asparagus. I then liquidised and sieved. It made a very light but tasty soup which was perfect for this evening as it is so hot! Served with home-made bread.

Wild garlic soup

I went to Ticknall Garden Club's plant sale this morning and they had wild garlic on sale, picked locally this morning. So for lunch we had wild garlic soup, which was made in 10 minutes by just frying a chopped onion in butter until soft and then adding a large potato and a colander full of wild garlic. I then added water to cover and two teaspoons of veg stock powder. I simmered until the potatoes were soft and then liquidised. The result was a tasty soup and not overpowering as you would expect.

Parsnip and Parmesan Soup

I made this soup to take as a starter to a dinner party. Served with rolls, it's quite rustic but tasty and rich. I made the veg stock myself which is probably why the soup looks a bit more orange than it should! The parsnips were grown by Heaths.