This week I started to make my winter lunch soups. One of them is Ham Bone & Split Green Pea (using the ham bone and its scraps from Christmas). It was looking a bit thin and as I like my soup to have some 'body' I added a can of Cambells Condensed Mushroom Soup. The result is a delicious soup, enough for 7 lunches.

And while buttercup pumpkins were $1 on Thursday last week at NW, I bought a nice big one and made Roasted Pumpkin Soup. Just as well I started my annual ritual, as yesterday the weather here turned really cold and hot soup for lunch is on the menu!

What are some of your favourite home-made soups?

It’s been soup weather here in Wanaka for quite a while now. Our favourite is lots of sautéed leeks from our garden, cumin, a little smoked paprika and also sweet paprika, turmeric, chicken stock, carrots, kumara if it’s in the house, red lentils. I make it a thick soup and then thin it down with tinned tomatoes in juice. I make a huge pot full. If on the last day it looks like it might not be quite enough for us I add a tin of tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas or sometimes coconut cream. Tastes great with some home made sourdough bread on the side.

Lamb and vege soup is my favourite.

Half a dozen lamb shoulder chops (as meaty as possible), a chopped onion, thinly sliced Brussels sprouts or cabbage, diced kumara or potato or pumpkin, sliced mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, 500 ml home made lamb stock or chicken stock, 1/4 c red wine vinegar, salt, bay leaves and thyme. Simmer in a big pan for about 90 minutes until the meat is tender. Remove chops, take meat off bones and return to the pan, discard bones and excess fat. Reheat. Serve with a good spoonful of extra virgin olive oil on top, or a pat of butter, chopped herbs as available (tarragon, parsley, dill). Freezes well and keeps in the fridge for several days.

I also make this with chicken drumsticks or thighs.

Good old vegetable soup comes tops for me made with a bacon hock and red lentils, barley, split yellow peas and a variety of fresh vegetables added (pumpkin is a must). For me it is the most satisfying soup of them all and I never tire of it! When I make a huge preserving pan of it, I usually add a good quantity of bacon bones along with the bacon hock to get the nice smokey flavour through the soup and then I freeze it in meal lots.
Regards,
Dawn.

I love a nice spicy Harira soup, and we had it for dinner last night, just what the doctor ordered.

Love soup weather Lorna! I make chicken and veggie, with lots of barley, mushroom, plain pumpkin and also Thai pumpkin with coriander, chilli and light coconut milk, leek & potato, minestrone, corn and bacon chowder, and an As*an broth with poached chicken breast, bean sprouts and greens.

Kumara, Pumpkin & Peanut Butter soup is very tasty. Alison Holst recipe [webcache.googleusercontent.com] I've made it with the chilli powder but I leave it out now as it dominates too much.

This is my favourite tomato soup recipe:
1 large onion, finely diced
1 tbspn (11g) butter
1 tbspn olive oil
1 dozen (approx 1 to 1.2kg) tomatoes
5 tbspns tomato paste
1/3rd cup flour
3 cups water
4 tbspns sugar to taste
2 tspns salt or to taste
basil, coriander or parsley to garnish

In a large pot lightly cook onion in butter and oil. Roughly chop fresh tomatoes and add to pot, cooking for 10 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally. Add tomato paste. In a small bowl mix flour with equal amount of water to a smooth paste. Stir into pot, then add rest of water. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and blend in food processor,then push pureed soup through a sieve to remove skin bits and seeds. Add sugar & salt to taste. Serve garnished with fresh herbs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2018 10:28AM by J1.

I never really like pumpkin soup until I tries Annabel Langbein's Thai pumpkin soup. It's absolutely delicious.

I love soup, I think I'd be happy to have it every day.
Scotch Broth is a childhood feelgood memory.
My homemade tomato soup favourite is one from an Alison Holst booklet, I have had for many years. If I don't have enough fresh (or frozen) tomatoes I use the canned variety.
Pumpkin soup is another that I make often. I have never tried the Thai pumpkin soup recipe but my pumpkin soup has many variations.

Thank you everyone for your ideas. Here is a favourite of mine. You can adjust, or leave out, the chilli to suit yourself, but even a little bit of chilli gives a lovely warming feeling to this soup.

Bean & Chorizo Soup

250g haricot beans, soaked overnight
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2.5cm piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 red chilli, split
2 tsps tomato purée
2 litres hot vegetable stock
200g red lentils
salt and fresh black pepper
200g chorizo sausage, sliced
handful fresh coriander, chopped

Soak the haricot beans overnight in plenty of cold water; drain them when ready to cook.

Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the chorizo, onions, garlic, ginger and chilli until the onions are translucent.

Add the tomato purée and cook again, stirring so that you are almost frying the purée.

Now add the drained beans and pour in half the hot vegetable stock.

Bring to the boil, then cover the pan and simmer for one and a half hours or until the beans are tender.

Remove the chilli. Add the lentils and the remaining litre of stock and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper.

Have to admit that my soup pot is often a recipe similar to Lornas's one but with "any vegetable that is left in the fridge' flavour. I have a very similar flavour frittata one too.

We often eat soup twice a day in cold weather and so I have a massive library of soup recipes I'd hate to pick favourites out of! I did make Helen's minestrone last week, which is a different recipe from the one I normally use, and it was delicious.

Simple and delicious

Carrot soup made with a really good chicken stock, preferably homemade. Even more delicious with some fresh cream and chopped coriander.
Its so simple, delicious and cheap!
I first tried this soup in the UK - The covent garden soup company MANY years ago. (See below)

CARROT & CORIANDER
Carrot and Coriander is one of our most cherished recipes and a big part of our soup making history. 25 years ago we first combined sweet carrot with peppery coriander and a dash of nutmeg to discover a new flavour phenomenon. After all this time it tastes just as good as the day we founded it.

Ive got the book but found this recipe online (Said its the New Covent Garden recipe) - I assume its the same. I use chicken stock tho.

25g (1oz) butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
550g (1 1/4lb) carrots, of which 450g (1lb) roughly chopped and 110g (4oz) coarsely grated
1 litre (1 3/4 pints) vegetable stock (see page 6)
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped fresh coriander
150ml (1/4 pint) single cream
salt and freshly ground black pepper

TO GARNISH:
150ml (1/4 pint) yoghurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

Melt the butter and cook the onion and garlic gently until soft in a covered saucepan, without colouring. Add the roughly chopped carrots, stock and nutmeg. Cover, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender. Cool a little, then puree in a liquidiser. Return the soup to a clean saucepan and stir in the grated carrots, coriander and cream. Taste for seasoning. Serve garnished with a swirl of yoghurt and a sprinkling of chopped fresh coriander.


Another goodie is broccoli and stilton, memories of pub lunches on cold days in the UK

That recipe is interesting Vanessa. I liked the sound of Covent Garden Soup so looked up their website and while I couldn't find the recipe for Carrot & Coriander Soup, in another part of the website I found their ready-made soup and looked at the ingredients. Two things struck me:

1. The recipe above calls for fresh coriander while the prepared soup uses ground coriander, which is a different beast altogether. They don't taste at all similar. I think I would prefer the fresh coriander for this recipe.

2. Concentrate of orange juice is used in the prepared soup. Carrot and orange is a classic combination and I think I would try adding some FRESH orange juice and maybe a little grated zest, too.

The website has some very interesting soup recipes and I shall be spending some time gleaning a few to add to my extensive soup recipe collection.

I have just made a mushroom/barley soup from Digby Laws soup cook book (it comes out every winter), I do it in the slow cooker and it becomes a meal along with a chia sour dough bread from Ya Bon (Hastings bakery).

When I lived in the UK I was a fan of New Covent Garden soup and now I have all their soup recipe books. They have some great recipes, although most of the books are written in an nnoying "handwriting" font.

Lorna I just whipped up a batch of carrot and coriander soup. A firm fav. I cooked onions until very soft added 4 cloves crushed garlic, grated about 450g carrots, and 1 small kumara.added 2 tsp gound coriander and a bout the same of cumin seeds, added 1.25 l veg stock, simmered until veg cooked blitz then seasoned. To serve added fresh coriander.
Served with Paul Hollywoods soda bread. Very quick and tasty lunch.

J1, thanks for mentioning the kumara/pumpkin/peanut butter soup! It turned out the book it came from was sitting on my shelf. It sounded so delicious I went straight out to the kitchen and made it and it was lovely. Will be a lunch favourite.

definitely soup days ... I started with a packet of Kings vege & beef soup yesterday, added lots of grated vege but also roasted some beef soup bones for 40 mins or so & added them. Far too much to put in the slow cooker I realised so a quick change to the largest pot I had, then simmered for most of yesterday. Yummy. (I took the meat off the bones & chopped it all into small bits)

Couple of weeks ago my friend treated me with a cheese soup and it was really dellicious! Unfortunately, I have no opportunity to ask her how to cook it now. Tried to search for good recipes in the internet, but haven`t found something suitable. Do you guys know how to make a good cheese soup?