‘Season of mists and mellow soupfulness…’

I'm an avid soup maker too. I like to make various different kinds, some depending on what's in the garden. Lentil is always a favourite here too, along with good old fashioned Scottish tattie soup, but I also like leek and potato; sweet potato and butternut squash; carrot, parsnip and orange and many others too numerous to mention!

I just put all the left over veg in the pan and add lentils and barley. Always delicious and I can get four meals out of one painful. Eat one and freeze three.

Celery, leek and potato mushroom (with sherry) and mixed veg.

My discerning dgs2 has lentil soup every Monday and Tuesday when I look after him, regardless of the season. The boy demands it. Grandma makes it, obviously. I like different soups. I might make minestrone at the weekend. Pea and ham (fi a chicken) is a Scottish advert but I love pea and ham soup too. Leek and potato is another favourite. Butternut squash, sweet potato and ginger soup has a pleasant inner warmth to it. Oh I want soup right now!

I was brought up on tinned and packet soup so I didn't find out how delicious homemade, fresh soup was until I started cooking for myself.
I like to make beetroot borscht and various other vegetable concoctions.
When pushed, I use tinned lentil soup as a base, often adding lardons, onions and lemon juice.
I still have a soft spot for tinned cream of tomato soup although I make my own fresh tomato, onion, basil and cream version sometimes.

@Grandmabatty I remember that advert well.

My family are huge fans of lentil soup too.

I found some unopened butternut squash at the bottom of the freezer last week. We now have frozen butternut squash, ginger and maple syrup soup in the freezer instead. Much nicer.

I make soup all year. Easy, cheap, healthy - quite easy to love.

Today pea, tenderstem broccoli, basil, our broccoli is gorgeous now. Yesterday tomato, again our tomatoes are producing well.

I make many sorts of lentil, bean, potato, or rice soups.

Our usual favourite is made with fresh and tinned tomatoes.

No packet or tinned soups - don't suit us.

I love chestnut soup, it's fast coming round to chestnut time again. Peeling them takes so long though - does anyone have any shortcuts? ( aside from using canned)?

Made cucumber soup yesterday.

Cucumbers, spring onions, onion, black pepper, potato, ham and chicken stock, butter.

Delicious.

DH likes it in a flask to take out with him as it’s not too thick.

My husband's current favourites are curried sweet potato soup, mushroom soup, tomato and basil soup, and leek and potato soup. He doesn't like any soup with "bits" in, so my stick blender definitely earns its keep. I usually use my homemade chicken stock as a base and serve a dish of grated parmesan for sprinkling.

It's the season of freebie courgettes, so there's courgette and brie soup in the freezer waiting for the first chilly day.

Salti

My husband's current favourites are curried sweet potato soup, mushroom soup, tomato and basil soup, and leek and potato soup. He doesn't like any soup with "bits" in, so my stick blender definitely earns its keep. I usually use my homemade chicken stock as a base and serve a dish of grated parmesan for sprinkling.

DH likes it smooth, I like it a bit chunky (half and half) so a stick blender comes in very handy.

never thought of making cucumber soup so might have a go. Have always made soup and in particular christmas time would be my boost to soup making, making use of all the various stuff available to concoct up into great soups. Had an old high dome pressure cooker which I used to great advantage. In particular when my son was little and suddenly took against vegetables he thought he was doing well when I offered him soup instead. Of course the soup was made with said vegetables and we both happily ate them in the various guises but saved a load of arguing. Now I live alone I wait until I am in the mood or have some good ingredients and then get cracking and then freeze them in individual portions which I can get out on cold days to suit me. I can see them being even more important if we cant afford to put the heating on!!

It’s a Delia recipe madeleine, quite simple and quick.

You are all so accomplished at soup making- I'm so envious!' On the rare occasion that I've tried to make soup, it tasted awful.
Can anybody give me a very simple, idiot-proof recipe for chicken and lentil soup? Please be very specific eg how to prepare lentils beforehand? how to make chicken stock? etc etc !

My soup attempts have been ok ish, but not worth all the effort.

I love making soup, out of anything I can get my hands on - and when I found soup freezing containers on Amazon I was really excited. They're brilliant and each compartment is the perfect size for 1 bowl/mug of soup. If you like making and freezing soup they are definitely worth having. Sorry, I sound like an advert for soup containers but I really do like them! Unfortunately I don't know how to add a link here.

This is the sort of thing I mean, but cheaper on Amazon. www.lakeland.co.uk/26995/souper-cubes-silicone-freezer-tray?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwlbu2BhA3EiwA3yXyu1QWaYVb6qX5V_WBDp8byWI1RaakW8dS5GGwgySRcGlDbTCR649fKhoCjSEQAvD_BwE

I've a gift subscription, this recipe is lovely.
I attempted to change the measurements to suit.
One could add shredded chicken prior to the spinach, cook through and proceed with spinach and tomatoes.

Coconut Lentil Soup
By Claire Saffitz
January 9, 2018

Makes about 8 cups
Ingredients
1 large onion
6 garlic cloves
1 3-inch piece ginger
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
5 teaspoons mild curry powder
½teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 400ml tin unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup split red lentils
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (we omit)
2 teaspoons salt, plus more
600g spinach
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

Peel 1 onion and chop. Smash 6 garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife. Peel, then finely chop. Peel 3" piece ginger with a small spoon, then finely chop.

Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in large pot, medium. Add onion and cook, stirring often, just until translucent, 6–8 minutes.

Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often, until garlic is starting to turn golden, about 5 minutes.

Add 5 tsp. curry powder and ½ tsp. cayenne and cook, stirring constantly, until spices are aromatic and starting to stick to bottom of pot, about 1 minute.

Add coconut milk and stir to loosen spices, then stir in 1 cup lentils, ½ cup shredded coconut, 2 tsp. salt, and 5 cups water.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to keep soup at a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are broken down and soup is thickened, 25–30 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash 600g spinach. Transfer to cutting board and coarsely chop.

Add spinach and tomatoes to pot and stir to combine. Taste and season with more salt. Simmer about 5 minutes. Taste and season again with more salt.

Willjac123

You are all so accomplished at soup making- I'm so envious!' On the rare occasion that I've tried to make soup, it tasted awful.
Can anybody give me a very simple, idiot-proof recipe for chicken and lentil soup? Please be very specific eg how to prepare lentils beforehand? how to make chicken stock? etc etc !

I put one on this thread, but forgot to quote you. See above.

My husband likes soup for lunch and likes to choose his tins when we go to the supermarket. However I've got an electric pressure cooker now and think that I will start making soup again, I just need to clear a drawer in the freezer so that he doesn't need to eat the same one every day!
Fortunately his favourites are the ones with peas or lentils, also oxtail, so they're pretty easy to make. I usually make stock from chicken carcases and we often have a joint of boiled gammon so I think that it will be relatively simple to make a variety.
My only problem is keeping the amount of salt within bounds, soup sometimes tastes a bit dull unless enough is added.

I have just mastered the art of Gazpacho! We usually go to Tenerife in February and I have this soup for lunch most days. I've wasted more tomatoes than I'd care to think about on trying to recreate it. So refreshing on a summer day - well maybe not this summer. Also like to make a Chilled Cheese and Cucumber soup. A recipe I've probably had for 50 years. But I do love making soups in the Autumn, so thick they're known as Stand -up soups. Soups your spoon could stand up in. And Sad soup - using up all the sad looking veg from the veg basket and fridge. Green soup - peas, leeks, asparagus etc. Haddock or chicken chowders. What a lovely thread.

I love fishy chowders, smoked haddock is so simple to make, though I know that not everybody likes their soup lumpy.