Soup recipes

nopot2pin

The best soup... requires a great stock.

You can boil up bones to provide the flavour for the stock...or even stock cubes.

However... the best stock I have ever used is a powder... Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon. It is readily available in the supermarkets now...previously you could only purchase it in health food shops.

Start off with simple recipes...
Carrot and corriander....
Leek and potato....

I always find when making soup... it is a case of tasting all the way.. and adding what you think is required.

Try and purchase a good soup book... the one I have is worth its weight in gold.

Good luck
x

Merlot

Clutterfree wrote: »

Hi All,
We had roast chicken for dinner tonight and now I have the stock in the slow cooker overnight.
I have tried a few times to make soup from it but it always turns out bland and tasteless???? What am I doing wrong?
I hear people say you can't beat HM soup but tinned is always so much nicer than anything I have ever attempted.
I usually eat half a bowl and then bin the rest.

Please, please, please give me a foolproof soup recipe - any flavour except chicken and sweetcorn as I've tried that one before.....:rolleyes:

I am grocery shopping in the morning so can buy any veg, etc then.
Oh and a recipe that will freeze would be handy too please.

Many thanks for your help.
CF xx

I make potato and courgette soup quite often and if I say so myself, its lovely, heres the link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/courgetteandpotatoso_87100.shtml

odds-n-sods

You need to add some veg to the bones. Carrot, onion, garlic, celery leek, if you 've got them. Also a bay leaf and a few peppercorns. Simmer, not boil! for a couple pof hours.

Strain all that out of the liquid. Keep any meat off the bones but the veg isn't worth keeping. Taste it and if its a bit bland you can reduce it by boiling it a little while, then taste again. Add a little salt + pepper.

CHicken noodle soup:

2 onions shopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
cooked chicken from bones (plus more if there isn't much)
fine egg noodles, broken up

Saute off the veg in a little olive il. Add the chicken and stock (enough to cover + 1") then add the noodles once it's come to a boil. If it gets a bit thick once the noodles cook (about 5 minutes), then add a little water. You can add other veg, herbs etc, or change the noodles to potatoes, rice etc.

mumoftwo

nopot2pin wrote: »

The best soup... requires a great stock.

You can boil up bones to provide the flavour for the stock...or even stock cubes.

However... the best stock I have ever used is a powder... Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon. It is readily available in the supermarkets now...previously you could only purchase it in health food shops.

Start off with simple recipes...
Carrot and corriander....
Leek and potato....

I always find when making soup... it is a case of tasting all the way.. and adding what you think is required.

Try and purchase a good soup book... the one I have is worth its weight in gold.

Good luck
x

I agree with that, it gives a great taste to soup. If you make a butternut squash soup with onion, a carrot, butternut squash and Marigold stock powder, I also add a teaspoon of mild curry powder, it brings out the flavours. Homemade is definately better than tinned.

fibernie

I think the carcass of one chicken isn't enough to make a decent stock, I've tried and also got blandness. If making soup, I usually chuck in a teaspoon of the veg stock powder mentioned above as well as any stock I might make from chicken carcass and various veg.
Having said that, I make soup way more often that I have roast chicken, and use organic stock cubes or veg bouillon powder.

Basic soup recipe.
Fry onions in a little oil until soft
Add whatever veg you want and soften
Add whatever pulses you want (usually lentils in this house)
Add stock, bay leaf, seasoning
Bring to boil and simmer

Yesterday I made lentil and bacon soup with onion, potato, carrot, brown lentils, veg stock and some chunks of ham leftover from the gammon joint we had yesterday. It's gone to work with my husband in a flask today and I'll be having some for lunch.

Hope this helps. I think being Scottish makes me a champion soup maker! (although I'll never top my mother's broth)

thriftlady_2

How are you making your stock Clutterfree ? The addition of an onion and a carrot are minimum requirements for good flavour A leek and a couple of sticks of celery (especially with the wonderfully flavourful homegrown celery that's around now) are also excellent additions.

When you make your soup you need to begin with a chopped onion and if possible some more flavour veg like leek, celery, garlic. I often add chopped bacon at this stage which gives a great flavour.

Remember to season well, tinned soups have loads of salt in them and probably MSG as well, which is why they taste so savoury. Maybe you just need to wean yourself off their chemically enhanced taste and onto the natural taste of real soup:)

heavenleigh

As thriftlady says even with the best stock hm soups still need quite a bit of seasoning especially if not using a stock cube, plus i find if you add some freshly chopped parsley just before the end of the cooking it changes the taste dramatically.

odds-n-sods

Chinese Soup Broth:

Bones from 2-3 chickens and a pot to hold them. 2 cloves garlic, peeled; 3 spring onions, chopped into chunks; 4 slices gingerroot; 3-4 schezuan peppercorns. Coevr with water. Simmer for 1.5 - 2 hours. Strain and reduce if needed

Thai Chicken Broth:

1L Chicken stock, to which you add:
1 red chili, chopped and deseeded
1/2 stalk fresh lemongrass, pounded and chopped
1 kaffir lime leaf
zest + juice of 1/2 a lemon and a lime
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

Simmer for 20 minutes,then strain out the bits.

MrsTinks

Lentil and carrot and tomato soup is a firm favourite here
However - you are comparing bought soups with HM. Don't forget that the soups you buy have a lot of salt most of the time and artificial flavour enhancers. Once you wean yourselves of all that salt then HM soups will taste even better! But for now then yes you need not ony a chicken carcass (or whatever bones you use) but also onion, carrot and any other veg you have hanging about that look about to be past their sell by date
and always chuck in a bunch of herbs from the garden: rosemary, thyme, parsley, chives - whatever you have

twink

Mince tattie soup is a favourite in the winter

cut quite a few potatoes up, then some carrots, couple of med onions, some swede turnip if you have, crumble in 1/4 - 1/2 lb raw mince, cover with stock or water and two chicken cubes, boil till veg is cooked and roughly mash with a potato masher, nice with oatcakes