Thick, chunky creamed vegetable soup (with a little bacon)

It's the 29th December, 2017.  We have eaten our own body weight in turkey over Christmas.  It is time to give our digestions a bit of consideration, hence, a vegetable soup.  However, because we're not vegetarians, it's got a wee bit of bacon in it too - just for the flavour input, don'tcha know.

Now for all that I like the brothy kind of soups, I wanted this one to be hearty, thick and worthy of being served as a dinner soup.  Perhaps with some crusty bread, or as it turned out, a gorgeous thin flatbread with mozzarella, basil and olive oil.  Mmmnn, delicious.

Truth be told, you could use just about any vegetables you wanted for this soup.  I will give you the full rundown of vegetable input in the recipe, but you need to follow a few rules, no matter what veggies you use.  Said rules go like this :

a)  chop some veggies very small, so that they cook down and disappear into the vegetable stock.

b)  chop some veggies into bite sized pieces, so that they will be retained and create lovely texture.

c)  start with a tasty oil - coconut, or butter, or rapeseed - and a finely chopped onion.  Do not be tempted to use a bland vegetable oil, or a slightly bitter olive oil.  If you start wrong, you won't ever be able to come back from it.

d)  use the best vegetable stock you can source.  It is the base of your soup and deserves to be delicious.

So there you are.  Not difficult at all, but make sure to set aside a good time to be spent  choppin', cuttin' and a-peelin'.  Not to mention a good hour or so in the preliminary cooking stage and a pause in the middle of however long you've got.  Good soup does not come about in a half an hour.  Well actually it can, but not with this one.

Here comes the recipe!

THICK, CHUNKY CREAMED VEGETABLE SOUP    (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 rashers of streaky bacon, finely chopped (optional)
2 tsp ground coriander
a large pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
half a tsp dried thyme
half a tsp dried parsley

Peeled and chopped small :

1 medium carrot
1 large stick of celery, with fluffy green bits if possible
1 large leek
2 chestnut mushrooms
6 sweet cherry tomatoes (halved works for these)
half a medium potato

Peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks :

2 medium carrots
2 large sticks of celery
5 chestnut mushrooms (quartered)
1 and a half medium potatoes
2 small parsnips
a decent sized chunk of swede or turnip

plus :

750ml of strong vegetable stock (I used 1.5 tsp Marigold vegetable bouillon and 1 tsp Essential Cuisine vegetable stock powder)
4-5 tbsp dry split red lentils
3-4 large leaves of Savoy cabbage, ribs removed and leaves sliced
2-3 tbsp double (or heavy) cream
2 tsp cornflour mixed with a drop of water to thick pouring consistency
sea salt & ground black pepper to taste.

Method :

To begin, make sure you are using a pan which can contain the entire contents.  It needs to be BIG and have a lid which fits.  I used my steep sided wok, which worked perfectly.

Heat the oil and add the onion & bacon (if using).  Cook, stirring often, until the onion is transparent and the bacon is beginning to render its oil.  Add the coriander, sea salt, black pepper and herbs and stir through.

Add all the chopped small ingredients and cook on, stirring regularly to turn the pan contents.  Once the leek and mushroom pieces are softened and the whole is beginning to look cooked, add the vegetable stock.

Increase the temperature under the pan and bring the contents to a gentle boil.  Add the bite sized chunks of veggies, the red lentils and the cabbage.  Gently stir through, cover the pan and bring back to a gentle boil.  Cook on for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste to check the seasoning levels - which should be fairly high as when you add it later, the cream will obliterate a certain level of seasoning.

Remove from the heat, leave covered and go and have a sit down for a couple of hours.

When you return, using a hand blender, blitz a certain amount of the soup to your preference.  I probably made it 50:50 blitzed to chunks which seemed to go down well.

Turn the heat on under the pan and add the cream and cornflour slurry and stir through.  As the soup heats up to a lively simmer, the cornflour will thicken the soup to a consistency where it will coat the back of a spoon - which is what you are aiming for.  If it becomes too thick, add a little water.

Finally, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.  Serve into warm bowls with crusty bread for dipping.

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Sweet Potato & Chorizo soup - a smooth and exotic spoonful

A few weeks ago, I spotted a recipe for sweet potato and chorizo soup and I liked the idea of that combination.  However, the recipe I saw didn't seem to have enough depth of flavour for a really tasty and satisfying soup.

I spent the next couple of weeks - on and off - thinking about the soup and how I could add more flavour to it, without detracting from the main two components.  Ultimately, I didn't adjust the recipe radically - just added carrot, celery, rosemary and thyme, all of which served to round it out and add a few extra layers of flavour.

By the way, for those who are baffled by the mention of a "donkey" carrot, think of the kind of carrot that a donkey would like to receive.  A great, big, chunky fat carrot not less than six inches long and preferably longer.  Now THAT is a donkey carrot.

The original method underwent a bit of a re-think as well and the roasting of the sweet potato and carrot was a great idea.  The original recipe had them cooked in the stock, however the roasting added an intensity to the flavour that you couldn't hope to gain any other way.

The use of olive oil instead of the original vegetable oil helped the flavours along, too.  In fact, between the sweet potato, herbs and olive oil, if it wasn't for the Chorizo, it would have been a disgracefully healthy soup!  *Phew*  Thank goodness for Chorizo, eh?

I served this as a dinner soup and it was easily enough for the three of us.  As a starter, it would definitely make sufficient for four.

As ever, if you are not using low salt stock, be careful about how much salt you include when seasoning.  Far easier to add later, you certainly can't take it away!

Hubby pointed out that this soup would make a wonderful November soup for supping around a bonfire, or for warming cold hands around a hearty mugful.  It certainly has got all the hallmarks for that!  However or whenever you decide to sample it, I'm sure you'll love it as much as we did. 

SWEET POTATO & CHORIZO SOUP    (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1kg sweet potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 large donkey carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
1-2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt & black pepper
200g cooking Chorizo sausage - 100g cut into quarters, 100g cut in half
1 red onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 stick of celery, diced finely
1 tsp dried rosemary
half tsp dried thyme
750ml hot water
2 tsp chicken stock powder (low salt) or 2 chicken stock cubes (low salt).

Method :

Place the sweet potato and carrot chunks onto a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil.  Season with sea salt & pepper and put into a pre-heated oven at 200degC/400degF/Gas 6 for 30 mins or until softened and just beginning to caramelise.

Remove from the oven and set aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and fry the quartered Chorizo until crispy.  Remove from the pan onto a plate and reserve to keep warm.  This Chorizo will form your garnish.

Add the halved Chorizo to the pan next and fry until lightly coloured.  Remove from the pan onto a plate and set aside.  

Decrease the heat under the pan and remove some of the oil to a small dish.  Reserve the oil in case you need to replace any - and you can use a little of the remainder to garnish once the soup is served.

Add the onion, garlic and celery to the pan, along with a pinch of salt and a good helping of black pepper.  Fry until softened but not coloured.  Part way through, add the rosemary and thyme.

Once softened, decant the contents of the pan into a large saucepan, add the sweet potato, carrot, hot water and chicken stock powder.  Heat through and taste for seasoning but before simmering point blitz with a hand-held blender until smooth.  Add the halved Chorizo and stir through.  Simmer, without boiling, to heat the soup through.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary - I found my soup needed more black pepper at this stage.

Serve in warmed bowls and add a spoonful of the quartered Chorizo and a swirl of Chorizo oil as garnish and warm crusty bread (or fresh baked American biscuits) for dipping.

Canadian apple & cheddar biscuits - yum!

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