Any veg will do – Throw it all in Soup (for now)
I love a good bowl of soup, especially for summer lunches when you can’t be bothered making too much but need to eat before going back to work. My freezer is full of portion sized soup containers and Hubby often takes one to work with him as I am not a morning person or an evening person really when it comes to making sandwiches.
This soup today is my favourite to make as it changes each time, so I just call it Throw it all in Soup for now.
Any veg will do, so open the fridge, dig up whatever is growing madly in the garden and just mix and match. Before I start showing pictures one thing I will say is that this soup is often not pretty. Serving it to guests, especially posh ones, might get you a few ERRRR comments. I posted this on another social media site and the Kitchen Goddess that is Nigella Lawson called it – no I wont say until the end but suffice to say the name has stuck in my house. So remember little pan of soup “names will never hurt you” and really who cares as you taste damn lovely.
You can take some liberties then with the recipe but here is what veg I put in today. The stock and the spices remain the same but if you are not spicy in your life then leave them out and it will taste of veggy loveliness only, which is just as good.
Throw it all in Soup
Todays Vegetables ( not weighed just threw in what I had)
1 large onion
New Zealand spinach
rainbow chard
carrots
cherry tomatoes
courgette ( no surprise there)
1 large potato
1 clove of garlic
kale
Soup Base
1 tin of tomatoes
100 ml water
2 veg stock cubes
1 tsp of each of the following:- cumin, coriander, tumeric, chilli
Salt and Pepper to taste.
How to make it
Grab a large pan (depending on the amount of veg you have)
In to pan -tin of tomatoes, stock cubes, water, roughly chopped onion and potato (if you are using).
Add the spices, garlic and salt/pepper to your taste.
Bring pan to boil and then let simmer.
Roughly chop all other veg you are using and add to pan as it simmers.
Leave on a rolling simmer until all veg are soft.
Remove pan from heat, use a food blender or a stick blender to smooth the soup to a consistency you like. Add extra water if too thick for you.
Soup is then ready to serve
Well that’s it, no prizes for culinary effort really and it took me around 35 mins from chopping to bowl. This is a great soup for clearing out old veg that you have or as is my case, a glut of veg that needs to be used. Told you, I am no Mitchelin chef but I don’t care, you can’t go wrong with this soup and it’s really healthy. I am leaning towards the old adage if it looks good its not good for you, this soup fits the bill.
Finally then the picture of the finished article and as I promised the name of this wonderful concoction as designated by Nigella is —— I hope this doesn’t put you off. Close your eyes and remember the colour will change with the differing veg you use. The kale I have used should give you a clue, so peeps apparently this is Stagnant Pond Soup. You saw it here first, it wont be coming to any restaurant near you and although she named it, Nigella politely declined to add this to her latest book. Rude? no I don’t think so, this is a soup only its maker can love.
Ah well now you can see it I guess you can see what I mean. No laughing allowed it, taste it first and then let me know.
Whilst I await your empty bowls I will
Just Breathe
Steph