Vegetable Soup Recipe Help Please!!!

fjm78

Hello, Thank you for taking the time to read this but I was wondering if you lovelies could help?!!! x I recently visited my Family where there is a cafe which serves the best home made soup ever and I am on a mission to recreate! The soup is chunky veg but I have no idea about what the best stock would be? Suggestions and recipes would be great as this filled me up all afternoon so would save on the pennies too! Thanks x

jenniewb

Need more info: was it tomato based or cream based? did it have certain vegetables in it? was it spicy? rich? oniony? cheesy? did it have a main vegetable in it? (eg chunks of potato/leek/carrot..?)

Have you tried Neals Yard Coven Garden Soups?

BitterAndTwisted

You need good tasty stock. If you're not a veggie then proper, home-made chicken stock is best for flavour but you can use fresh, peeled tomatoes or canned ones. For veggie soup you don't need any special vegetables or combinations thereof, you just make it with what you have to hand. If you like soup thick and hearty you could cube some floury potatoes and cook them down in the liquid or even add some rice or small pasta like orzo.

TravellingAbuela

There is a long running thread over on Old Style devoted entirely to soup recipes - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/8146. Just do a search of that thread for vegetable soup (or any other soup that takes your fancy!) and lots of favourite recipes will come up. The beauty of veg soup is that you can throw in whatever veg you like and leave out what you don't!

LadyDee

I made a huge pot of veggie soup at the weekend - froze loads in ziplock bags in portions.

I made it up as I went along, but basically:
Vegetable stock cubes (4)
Loads of carrots (about 1kg)
Onions (3)
Leeks (2)
Potatoes (1lb)
Turnip (1 med)
Peppers (2)
Broth Mix (about half a packet)

Soak broth mix in cold water for a few hours, bring to the boil in clean water, skim and drain and repeat.
Chop up/slice all the veggies, mix stock cubes with enough water to cover the veggies in the pot. Cook until everything is tender (I cooked it gently for about 2 hours), then blend about a quarter of the soup and return to pot. Season well (I only use pepper as stock cubes might be salty but taste!).

It was delicious, and basically just throw in whatever veggies you happen to have. You could add some frozen peas, runner beans, sweet corn - anything you might have bits of in the back of the freezer.

Enjoy!

fjm78

Thank you... some fab ideas to get me started! The original soup is a stock based soup with chunky veg. I think when I have made soup in the past I have been shy with the seasoning and maybe needed to add more stock cubes! The covent garden ones are scrummy too, but I am hoping homemade would be cheaper and I maybe help the diet!!! LOL x Thanks again for your time... I'll have a go later and let you know! x

freyasmum

fjm78 wrote: »

Thank you... some fab ideas to get me started! The original soup is a stock based soup with chunky veg. I think when I have made soup in the past I have been shy with the seasoning and maybe needed to add more stock cubes! The covent garden ones are scrummy too, but I am hoping homemade would be cheaper and I maybe help the diet!!! LOL x Thanks again for your time... I'll have a go later and let you know! x

Whether you boil the bones of a chicken carcass or use cubes, a good, flavourful stock is the base of all good soups.

Taste it as you cook; if it needs a bit more seasoning, chuck it in and let it cook in.

If HM soup isn't cheaper than Covent Garden ones, I'll be shocked and taken aback

Sublime_2

Love HM soup, using HM stock. It doesn't have to be chicken as you can use the bones/scraps from other animals. Eating the rest of my soup I made using a Duck carcass/scraps, with lentils, carrots, parsnips, herbs, and spices. My 6 year old loved it, and ate every scrap.

bargainbetty

HM soup is brilliant for using up scraps of stuff, and avoiding wasting veg. On Sunday i made a 'Bottom of the Fridge' batch - onion, two sticks of celery so floppy I got the giggles, a few old new potatoes, a couple of carrots, some butternut squash and a very sad looking leek. Veg stock, salt, pepper, herbs.

Blended to a thick soup, it was really lovely, and saved me wasting a couple of quids worth of scrappy veg. Four large portions too, so massively cheaper than Covent Garden!

Clowance

Try marigold swiss vegetable bouillon for stock, delia once recommended it. About a tablespoon for say a large saucepan of stock?
Also recommend lentil and bacon soup, made this last weekend with additional random veg to test the theory that soup keeps you fuller for longer and less likely to snack. Had it for lunch - tasty - with two slices bread and butter, full for 6 hours after!
http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/soups/smoked-bacon-and-lentil-soup.html
NB I used normal red lentils, marigold as above, and garlic puree.

shopndrop

Shock horror I know, but I always throw the chicken carcass away as I don't know what to do with it and mainly, I am bothered about food poisoning if I don't deal with it properly. Can anyone tell me how to make stock in a safe way using the carcass as I always use stock cubes but would love to make my own stock. Presume I could also make stock using a what is left on the bone of a ham shank?