Courgette & feta soup

Yet another summer recipe. Courgettes are in season, so they will be on my menu a lot for the next couple of weeks. They are so versatile - can be steamed, boiled, grilled, roasted, stuffed, used in salads and so on. Today, I am presenting a soup with feta cheese and dill - one of  my favourite herbs. Bon apetit! 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

500 g courgettes, chopped

1 large potato, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

700 ml vegetable stock

80 g feta cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

chopped fresh dill, to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large lidded  saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sweat, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened but not browned.

2. Add the courgette and potato and cook for about 10 minutes.

3. Add the parsley and stock. Bring to the boil and cook for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are softened.

4. Set aside and leave to cool for a few minutes. Blend until smooth. Add the feta and stir until melted. You might want to blend it a bit more if the feta doesn't melt. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

5. Serve scattered with dill.

This is a modified version of a original recipe which comes from the book Homemade Soups by Grace Mulligan & Dilwen Phillips

Carrot & Ginger Soup

Recipe from the book Homemade soups by Grace Mulligan & Dilwen Phillips

Ingredients

500 g carrots, peeled and sliced
600 ml vegetable stock
a knob of fresh root ginger, sliced
40 g butter
2 onions, chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 tablespoons orange juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
* optional 60 ml whipping cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Place the carrots, stock and fresh ginger in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Discard the ginger.

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large lidded saucepan. Add the onions and sweat, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened but not browned.

3. Stir in the ground ginger and orange zest and then add the cooked carrots and their cooking stock. Cover the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool briefly. Blend until smooth. Add the orange juice, adjust the seasoning if necessary and then reheat gently. Serve garnished with a spoonful of whipped cream (optionally).

Spinach Soup

Welcome back after a long break! It's summer already and it's time for some light, fresh recipes. So here it is, a spinach soup, full of green goodness. Mild in flavour, perfect as a starter to a substantial main course.

Ingredients

25g butter
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large potato, diced
300g spinach
600 ml vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp creamy natural yoghurt
* croutons to serve

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sweat until softened but not browned. 

2. Add the potatoes. Cover and allow to sweat for a few minutes, shaking the pan from time to time.

3. Add spinach and allow to wilt, stirring well from time to time. Once the spinach is wilted, add stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool a little. Blend until smooth. Stir in the cream, adjust the seasoning if necessary and reheat gently. 

5. Serve garnished with croutons (sun-dried tomato flavored ones work really well).

Celery And Cashew Nut Soup

Actually, I don't really like celery. But I came across this recipe (in the book Homemade soups by Grace Mulligan & Dilwen Phillips) and it intrigued me. I couldn't quite imagine the taste of it and decided to go ahead and test it. And I have to say that the combination, unusual as it is, works well. Definitely worth trying. And it's such a great way of using up leftover celery ;)

Ingredients

25 g butter

1 onion, chopped finely

1 potato, peeled and diced

1/2 head of celery, chopped

80 g cashew nuts, chopped roughly

700 ml vegetable stock

15 g plain flour (I skipped it)

450 ml semi-skimmed milk

salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Gently melt the butter in a large lidded saucepan. Add the onion and potato and sweat for 5 minutes, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened but not browned.

2. Stir in the chopped celery and cashew nuts and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the stock, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Blend the flour with a little of the milk, stir in the remainder of the milk and pour into the soup, stirring until the soup has thickened. I actually skipped the flour and just added milk to make it lighter. It works fine, too. 

5. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and reheat gently.

Parsnip And Ginger Soup

Ingredients

20 g butter
750 g parsnips, sliced
2 large onions, roughly chopped
1 l chicken or vegetable stock
25 g fresh root ginger, grated
crème fraîche (to your liking)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the parsnips and onions, and fry very gently for 10 minutes until softened but not browned.

2. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes until the parsnips are tender. Stir in the ginger. Blend the mixture  in a food processor or using hand blender until smooth.

3. Add the crème fraîche and heat through. Add a little seasoning if you like.

Recipe from the book Gluten-free cooking by Lyndel Costain and Joanna Farrow

Moroccan Carrot Soup

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
600 g carrots, diced
600 ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground allspice
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, garlic and coriander seeds. Cook for 3 minutes until tender.

2. Add carrot, stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes until the carrot is tender.

3. Toast the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan. Let it cool and grind using mortar and pestle, or chop finely with a knife.

4. Whizz the carrot and onion mixture in a blender or food processor, add honey, lemon juice and allspice. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a blob of natural yoghurt and coriander leaves.

 

 

Ratatouille Soup

This soup is healthy, filling, full of flavour, easy to make and gentle on your pocket - what else could you possibly want?! And for more comforting winter meal you can add some meat; beef would go really well... Or maybe even chorizo... I'll definitely try that next time I'm making this soup. It will be soon :)

Ingredients
 
1 red onion
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper
1 courgette
1 aubergine
15ml (1tbsp) olive oil

1x400g can chopped tomatoes

1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1 tbsp fresh basil



Instructions

1. Peel and dice the onion. Crush the garlic. Core, deseed and dice the red pepper. Dice the courgette and aubergine.

2. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the vegetables and cook over a gentle heat for a few minutes until softened.

3. Add the can of tomatoes. Fill empty can with water and add. Crumble in the stock cube. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. 

4. Stir in the paprika powder. 

5. Serve sprinkled with torn basil.

Rich Tomato Soup With Pesto

Tomato soup probably isn't the first thing that springs to mind when thinking about winter food. Maybe I should have cooked some sort of beef stew...? Well, there's still plenty of time for that. And actually this soup, thanks to garlic and sun-dried tomatoes, is really warming and comforting. One of my favourite tomato soup recipes.

Recipe from BBC Good Food

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp butter or olive oil

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 5 soft sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped

• 3 x 400g cans plum tomatoes

• 500ml turkey or vegetable stock

• 1 tsp sugar, any type, or more to taste

• 142ml pot soured cream

• green pesto, to serve

Instructions

1. Heat the butter or oil in a large pan, then add the garlic and soften for a few mins over a low heat. Add the sun-dried or SunBlush tomatoes, canned tomatoes, stock, sugar and seasoning, then bring to a simmer. Let the soup bubble for 10 mins until the tomatoes have broken down a little. 

2. Whizz with a stick blender, adding half the pot of soured cream as you go. Taste and adjust the seasoning – add more sugar if you need to. Serve in bowls with 1 tbsp or so of the pesto swirled on top.

Beetroot Soup With Horseradish

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 medium beets, peeled and halved
• 1 medium potato, peeled and halved crosswise
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 8 teaspoons reduced-fat crème fraiche  
• 1/2 small jar Polish horseradish 

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. 
2. Add beets, potato, salt, pepper, bay leaf and the stock. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes or until beets and potato are tender. Discard bay leaf.
3. Place mixture in blender or food processor; process until smooth.  Return pureed mixture to pan. Warm soup over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in lemon juice.
4. Combine 1/2 cup soup and the sour cream, stirring with a whisk. Pour back into the rest of the soup and stir. Add horseradish and stir with a whisk until smooth (alternatively, use blender). Serve with brown roll or rustic bread.

Spicy Roasted Parsnip Soup

The recipe comes from BBC Good Food. The taste reminds me of a falafel, as it calls for the same spices: cumin, corriander, and turmeric. It's a nice soup, but I had to add some cayenne pepper and harissa paste to give it extra zing. Otherwise, it would be a bit too bland for my taste.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp coriander seeds 

• 1 tsp cumin seed, plus extra to garnish

• ½ tsp ground turmeric 

• ½ tsp mustard seeds

• 1 large onion, cut into 8 chunks 

• 2 garlic cloves 

• 675g parsnips, diced 

• 2 plum tomatoes, quartered 

• 1.2l vegetable stock 

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. In a bowl, mix together the oil and spices. Add the vegetables and mix well. Spread over a heavy baking sheet, then roast for 30 mins until tender.

2. Spoon into a food processor or liquidiser with half the stock and process until smooth. Pour into a pan with the remaining stock, season, then heat until barely simmering. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Garnish with cumin seeds.