Soup

Green pea soup made with frozen peas makes a lovely fresh tasting soup throughout the year. It changes each time I make it depending on what I've got in. Soften some onion / shallots / bunch of spring onions in butter or olive oil, stir in a potato chopped small and some chicken stock -homemade or cube. Simmer until potato is almost soft, throw in peas for 3 mins then blitz the lot. Hard to say how many peas. About 3/4 handfuls for two people? Warm through, add more stock if too thick and sprinkle with crisp bacon / shredded ham / croutons.

That's how I make it Rosie. Faster than split dried peas and very fresh tasting.

M and S used to do a "green soup" maybe they still do. But it is a good inspiration. use frozen peas as the base and add anything green - spinach, parsley etc and liquids. An onion and a stock cube always help dont they.

Yes, roasted garlic Cari, but do twice the amount . It just begs to be eaten on soft white home made bread as soon as it comes out of the oven!

I make my frozen pea soup with fresh mint in it. And I swear by my hand blender. I think I am on my fourth in about 30 years!

I had a friend who used to be a professional cook and his recipe for tomato soup is absolutely delicious - and VERY easy. My kind of recipe!

Two tins of tomatoes (yes really)
A teaspoonful of very lazy garlic
2 teaspoonfuls of pesto
2 teaspoonfuls of marigold bouillon powder
Couple of tablespoons of tomato puree

Bung it all in a saucepan and heat up - add water if you want it a bit thinner.

Serve with grated strong cheddar cheese and bread.

I often cook butternut squash, peeled and chopped into biggish bits, with olive oil, maple syrup and ginger to have with a roast but usually put another one in the oven at the same time and make the left overs into soup with slow fried onions, garlic and stock. Blitz using a hand blender and top with grated gruyere!

It looks as if the St Valentine's Day Massacre has taken place in my kitchen. Hope the beetroot soup is tasty enough to make up for the mess!

At my advanced age, believe it or not, I`ve never made soup! Always thought there was some mystery method attached to it that I never knew about, but you lot make it sound so easy, I`ll have to have a go, I think.

Tip number don't start with beetroot

Unless you want borsch.

There's no mystery re soups number just chuck everything in and season and partly blend.

Simples..

Вы правы jeni

I don`t have a blender, can I just do it in a saucepan?

Yes, cook it in a saucepan and then mash it about a bit with a potato masher or a whisk. Bon appetit.

I find the pressure cooker invaluable for soup making. It's fast and keeps the flavour in. I also have a large stainless steel stockpot which is perfect when I have a lot of veg to contribute to a 'chuck it all in' kind of soup. Soup freezes well in small portions - handy for those of us who live alone. But I keep finding containers of unidentifiable stuff which may or may not be soup, so it's really a good idea to label them.

anno you've been in my freezer! MrDog is away for a few days. I'm defrosting 'something' for my lunch tomorrow. No idea what it is yet

Pour it out YOURSELF? Strewth!

Memo to self... You're a whole page too late in posting your reply to jeni

Anno yesterday I defrosted a wedge of cake to have with my cuppa only to find it was meat pie!

It's a sausage casserole!!!

ella

Adding tbsp bulgar wheat or couscous adds body /texture to any soup.There are packs of spicy/herby couscous in supermarkets.