Tag Archives: soup

My Saturday Relaxer

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After a very busy week at work I fell into the pub at our Early Doors regular Friday meet up, to enjoy a few pints of Naked Ladies Ale, our local Twickenham brewery fare at the Three Kings.

I decided to make some soup on Saturday as a way to relax myself into the weekend proper. Lots of winter veg, chicken stock in good basic soup.  So my intention was to make it comforting and full of flavour, it also needs to be chunky to give us a warming texture to the soup. This approach alongside a New York Bagel, toasted or not, buttered or not its all up to you. Enjoy!

Twickenham Brewery Regular Ales

The Brewery

Twickenham Fine Ales was the first brewery in Twickenham since Cole’s Brewery closed in 1906. However it didn’t end there. Founded by Steve Brown in 2004, Twickenham has been at the forefront of the resurgence of breweries in London.  Using global hops from a early stage, and only the purest of ingredients, Twickenham produces a fine range of well hopped, award winning beers.

Serves: 4

Approximate Calories: 765 (192 calories per serving) 

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp of rapeseed oil (olive oil will do)
  • 3 potatoes
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1 tbsp fresh fennel (2 tsp of dried fennel will do)
  • 3 small to medium onions
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 leeks
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 tbsp of oregano (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp of sweet paprika
  • 3 splashes of Worcester sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 chicken stockpots
  • Add hot water to (level 1 in the soupmaker the higher one)

Method

  • Put all ingredients in the soup maker and set to smooth
  • Alternatively put all of the ingredients into the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minute’s or so, then blend when done until smooth.
  • For a thinner soup add more water, for a thicker soup add less water.
  • Optional – New York Bagel – 230 calories (with butter add 35 calories – for 456 for the whole serving)

Potato, Carrot & Onion

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Now that I am back in the groove with my soup making, I wanted to experiment with a chunky wholesome home style soup. It had to simple, tasty and warming as well as quick to make and not full of spurious ingredients that were not need .

I simply used potatoes, carrots, celery and onions and a tsp my Hungarian purchase of sweet and hot paprika to add the warmth that I wanted.

You can find some info here about Hungarian paprika by clicking here

Serves: 4

Approximate Calories: 741 (186 calories per serving) 

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil (olive oil will do)
  • 2 sticks of celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 medium potato, chopped
  • 3 onions, chopped
  • 2 tbsp of pearl barley
  • 1-2 tsp of paprika (hot or sweet to your taste)
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 vegetable and 1 chicken stockpot
  • Add hot water to (level 1 in the soupmaker the higher one)

Method

  • Put all ingredients in the soup maker and set to smooth
  • Alternatively put all of the ingredients into the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minute’s or so, then blend when done until smooth.
  • For a thinner soup add more water, for a thicker soup add less water.

Squash, Potato and Carrot soup

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With so much squash in the fridge, I had another to use up, and a great response from my earlier effort I determined to use it for another squash soup. Having already used up the Red peppers I replaced these in the soup with carrots. This would help to keep the colour, as well as provide some flavour. I upped the potato count and dropped the lentils in favour of the onions.

We were set to soup and that’s what we did, flavour was good and the soup itself was thick and delicious

Serves: 4

Approximate Calories: 989 (247 calories per serving) 

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil (olive oil will do)
  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 3 medium potato, chopped
  • 2 medium carrots,chopped
  • 1 whole squash, chopped
  • 1 cloves of garlic
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 vegetable stockpots
  • Add hot water to (level 1 in the soupmaker the higher one)

Method

  • Put all ingredients in the soup maker and set to smooth
  • Alternatively put all of the ingredients into the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minute’s or so, then blend when done until smooth.
  • For a thinner soup add more water, for a thicker soup add less water.

Squash & Pepper Soup

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Our first delivery of vegetables after our return from holiday contained two squashes. Jane mentioned that she loved these vegetables, this sparked me off to provide a delicious soup for my wife to enjoy at lunchtime. The question was what to put with it that she would like as well.

Red peppers to add some sweetness, potato for body and lentils for a bit of thickness. I also added cumin for additional flavour. Jane went got a baguette form around the corner and we were set.

Serves: 4

Approximate Calories: 623 (156 calories per serving) 

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil (olive oil will do)
  • 2 red peppers, chopped
  • 1 medium potato, chopped
  • 1 whole squash, chopped
  • 1 tbsp of red lentils
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp of cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 vegetable stockpots
  • Add hot water to (level 1 in the soupmaker the higher one)

Method

  • Put all ingredients in the soup maker and set to smooth
  • Alternatively put all of the ingredients into the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minute’s or so, then blend when done until smooth.
  • For a thinner soup add more water, for a thicker soup add less water.

Caldo Verde

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Following an episode of Rick Stein’s Long Weekend where he went to Lisbon in Portugal, I ended up wanting to try that famous Portuguese potato and cabbage soup. “Caldo Verde” is what I ended up making for my next venture into the soupy world.

Having been away myself in Europe, as mentioned in an earlier post, I was still itching to get back into the regular routine. I continued my routine by using cabbage in soup, something I rarely do as I am not a fan of it. However as I currently understand it, there is no definitive way to make this soup, so I did my best to create a Caldo Verde of my own.

Serves: 4

Approximate Calories: 574 (144 calories per serving) 

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil (olive oil will do)
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped
  • 1 large onion chopped (2-3 medium if you like onions)
  • 3 medium potato , chopped
  • 3 cabbage leaves (or similar, I’m not entering the kale debate)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • add hot water to (level 2 in the soupmaker the lower one)

Method

  • Put all ingredients in the soup maker and set to chunky
  • Alternatively put all of the ingredients into the pan and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minute’s or so, then blend when done until chunky.
  • For a thinner soup add more water, for a thicker soup add less water.
  • Optional (add fried and diced smoked bacon or the same using chorizo)