| Your Health | | | | | | |  | Recipes |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
|
|
| | My Favourite Soups |
As the evenings close in and our Summer (did we have one!) becomes a distant memory, there’s nothing more comforting than a steaming hot bowl of soup - with both ‘eating and drinking in it’ as they say!
It’s something you can enjoy at almost any time of the day – lunch, dinner or supper. You can throw one together fairly quickly and all in the one pot too!. | | |
| |
| It’s one of those exceptionally versatile meal solutions that will soak up all your extra vegetables or even some chicken from the Sunday roast. Add in some potatoes, lentils or even pasta, and you have a complete meal in minutes. Soup is something you can batch cook and reheat during later to feed a hungry teenager late for dinner. It’s amazing what you can hide and sneak into soups when they’re pureed down to an attractive consistency.
Soups can be bursting with nutrients when you use the freshest seasonal ingredients: with vitamins, minerals and fibre from the vegetables, and protein from any meat or pulses that you add in. You can use a few tricks to replace cream in soup without compromising on taste – in fact the addition of lentils or potatoes can add a wonderful creaminess. But if you want to indulge, a spoonful of reduced-fat crème fraiche added towards the end of cooking can add luxury for only a few extra calories.
At this time of year, there are plenty of super ingredients available for soup. All you need is a good stock for your base, then choose a mixture of vegetables to add, or even one or two main vegetables, and if you like, some pulses, lentils, potatoes or pasta to thicken. If you don’t have homemade stock, use a good quality stock cube or powder, such as Marigold Swiss Bouillon, available from most large supermarkets and health food stores. Gluten-free stock cubes and powder are also available.
Here is a selection of soup recipes with something for everyone. The soups are suitable for Coeliacs as long as gluten-free stock is used. All recipes are suitable for freezing, unless otherwise indicated.
| | Spiced pumpkin soup (serves 4 – 6) |
Pumpkin and other squashes are a rich source of beta carotene.
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbs olive oil
600g pumpkin flesh
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
2 small dried chillies
1 litre vegetable stock
4 tbs reduced fat crème fraiche
Freshly ground black pepper
Peel and roughly chop the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat until soft and translucent.
Meanwhile, chop the pumpkin flesh into rough cubes and add to the onion and garlic. Cook until the pumpkin is golden brown at the edges.
Add the cumin, turmeric and crumbled chillies to the pumpkin. Cook for a minute or so and then add the stock. Leave to simmer for about twenty minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender.
Whiz the soup with a blender or food processor until smooth (or alternatively you can whiz half and leave half as it is for more texture). Add the crème fraiche and season with freshly ground black pepper.
Serve piping hot.
| | Vegetable & lentil soup (serves 4 – 6) | 1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large carrots
2 sticks celery
1 large courgette
1 red pepper
1 litre vegetable stock
50g red lentils
Freshly ground black pepper
Chop all the vegetables into similar-sized pieces, and crush the garlic cloves. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until softened. Add the rest of the vegetables and stir well to coat with the oil.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Meanwhile, rinse the lentils in a sieve.
When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the lentils and cook for a further 15 minutes.
Blend half or all of the soup with a blender or food processor. Serve piping hot.
| | Tomato & butter bean soup (serves 4) | 1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 celery stick
1 tbs olive oil
2 tins tomatoes
1 tin butter beans, drained
300ml vegetable stock
Handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
1 tbs grated parmesan (optional)
Roughly chop the onion, garlic and celery. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and fry the vegetables until soft (about 3 minutes). Add the tomatoes, drained butter beans, basil and stock and stir. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Whiz half of the soup with a blender or food processor. Return to the rest of the soup and add the parmesan if using. Serve piping hot.
| | Curry potato & parsnip soup (serves 4 – 6) | 1 tbs olive oil
2 large parsnips
3 large potatoes
1 medium onion
2 tsp curry powder
850ml vegetable stock
150ml semi-skimmed milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Peel and chop the parsnips, potatoes and onion. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the potatoes, parsnip and onions, season with pepper and coat the vegetables in the oil.
Cover with a lid and sweat over a low heat for about 10 minutes, adding the curry powder after about 5 minutes.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Continue cooking until the vegetables are soft. Whiz the soup until smooth with a blender or food processor. Add the milk and season to taste.
Serve piping hot.
| | Coconut noodle soup (served 4 – 6) | 100g medium rice noodles
400ml tin reduced-fat coconut milk
400ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp grated ginger
1 chilli, deseeded & chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
250g green beans
200g baby sweetcorn
200g mangetout
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
Soak the noodles in a bowl of boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until soft. Drain.
Cook the green beans and sweetcorn in boiling water for 4 – 5 minutes, until tender.
Place the coconut milk, stock, ginger, chilli, garlic and fish sauce in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the mangetout, green beans, baby sweetcorn and coriander, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Divide the noodles into serving bowls and ladle over the hot soup. Serve.
The noodles are not suitable for freezing, but the broth is.
| | | |
|
