Category: soup

Thai Spiced Lentil and Butternut Squash Soup (v)

This quick but oh-so-tasty soup is based on this recipe. I had butternut squash to use up, along with some yellow thai curry paste and only 150ml coconut milk. The results were delicious and nicely filling for a working week day dinner. We had home made garlic bread along side to bulk it out a bit more. And poor old me gets to eat the leftovers for lunch today. It’s hard life 😉
For 4-6 portions you need
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 inch fresh ginger grated
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1cm chunks
½ cup red lentils
150ml coconut milk
1 litre vegan stock
2 tbsp thai yellow curry paste (this isn’t too spicy and uses turmeric to colour the paste yellow which also gives an earthy background note to the soup)
Sliced red chilli and chopped fresh coriander to serve
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp fresh lime juice or fish sauce if not vegan
24 hour risen garlic bread to serve
Begin by sweating the onion in the oil for 5 mins. Add the garlic, ginger, squash and curry paste and cook for a further 5 mins. Tip in the lentils then add the coconut milk and stock. Bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins until the lentils are cooked.
Blitz the soup until velvety and smooth. Add the soya sauce and lime juice or fish sauce. Serve in warmed bowls topped with the fresh zingy chilli slices and chopped coriander.
by Categories: easy, lentils, pulses, quick, soup, thai, vegan Leave a comment

‘Chicken’ Noodle Soup (v)


An unbelievably quick and easy recipe, perfect for warming and cheering you up after a long working day.
For 3-4 people you need
3 nests noodles (egg if not vegan, rice or soba otherwise)
Veggies of your choice: I usually use 1-2 carrots, thinly sliced, ½ cup frozen peas, ½ cup frozen sweetcorn, chinese leaf shredded
1 onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
2 inch piece of ginger, finely grated
Fresh coriander, roughly chopped
50ml soya sauce
1.5 litres veggie stock
Either some quorn chicken chunks, tofu cubes, marinated tofu strips etc
To serve: hot chili sauce (Econa is my fave!); sesame oil, soya sauce
Place everything in a large pan and cover with the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 mins until the protein element is hot, the noodles are cooked and the veggies are al dente. Serve topped with the chilli sauce, chili flakes, chopped coriander and anything else you fancy J
by Categories: easy, quick, soup, vegan Leave a comment

Roasted Moroccan Vegetable Soup with Toasted Pine Nuts (v)

I had a glut of veggies that needed to be used so roasted a whole big batch of them and turned half into this soup and the other half into a yummy lunch of roasted veggies, cous cous and spinach. The soup is beyond easy to make but tastes like you’ve slaved over it for hours!

For 4 portions you need
1 sweet potato
2 beetroot
2 onions
2 parsnips
4 carrots
2 courgettes
1.5 litres of veg stock
Handful roughly chopped coriander
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp each of baharat, ras el halour and berber spice mixes (or whatever moroccan spices you fancy)
salt and pepper
1 tin drained cannelini beans
150g spinach, washed

Begin by chopping sweet potato, carrot, onion and parsnips into small chunks. Toss in the oil and spices and roast in a hot oven for 20-30 mins until tender and starting to catch a little.

Prepare the beetroot and courgette in the same way and roast on a separate tin.

Once the tray with the root veg has done, place the roasted veggies in a pan and cover with the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2-3 mins.

Add the spinach to the pan and blitz to a puree. Return to the pan and add the beans. Heat through.

Serve in warmed bowls topped with a couple of spoonfuls of the roasted beetroot and courgette, pine nuts and coriander. Serve with copious bread.

by Categories: beetroot, carrot, courgettes, easy, moroccan, onion, pulses, soup, sweet potatoes, vegan Leave a comment

Carrot and Potato Soup with Ginger and Chilli (v)

A lovely friend made us a delicious bowl of soup to replenish our bellies after a walk round the Holmfirth countryside a few weeks ago, so I decided to recreate the flavours and use up some limp carrots from the bottom of the fridge. You can flavour this soup with whatever you like, but the warming ginger and chilli work well with the sweet carrot.

For 3-4 portions you need
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3-4 carrots, roughly chopped, no need to peel
2-3 potatoes, roughly chopped, no need to peel
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 small chilli, destalked and cut into a couple of sections.
1.5 litres vegetable stock
Fresh parsley and coriander to serve
Heat the oil in a pan and sautee the veggies for a few mins. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and then top up with the stock. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 15 mins until the potatoes are cooked.
Blitz to a smooth consistency, adding more water if necessary and then serve topped with chopped fresh herbs. Yummy.
by Categories: carrot, easy, garlic, ginger, potato, quick, soup, vegan Leave a comment

Mock Duck Noodle Soup (v)

There was a bit of a shopping fail this week, as I’d planned to make fake chicken noodle soup for lunch on Sunday but upon opening the freezer realised that we had no quorn chunks left, d’oh. I did however remember that there was a tin of mock duck languishing in the cupboard where it had lain for months. It made for an excellent and very tasty soup. So now I need to buy another tin to replace the one I used!

For three portions you need
1 tin mock duck (available from larger supermarkets or Asian/Chinese grocers), gluten sliced into bite sized pieces
3 nests noodles
1 litre vegetable stock plus the sauce/liquid from the mock duck tin
1 onion, halved and then sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips
125g closed cup mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 inch ginger, grated
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder
1 tbsp soya sauce

To garnish
3 tbsp fresh coriander, roughly chopped
chilli flakes, tabasco sauce and soya sauce to serve

Place the stock into a large pan and add the noodles, onion, garlic and ginger. Season with soya sauce and the chinese five spice powder. Add all the other ingredients, apart from the pepper and mushrooms, and cook for 3-5 minutes until the noodles are done. Add the mushrooms and pepper and heat through for a further two minutes. Serve in large bowls garnished with the coriander and chillies to taste. Delicious.

by Categories: carrots, chinese, coriander, easy, healthy, mushrooms, noodles, onions, peppers, quick, soup, sweetcorn, vegan Leave a comment

Clam, Prawn and Smoked Haddock Chowder

Fuz loves fish. I am not that keen. Upon Ocado delivering the ingredients for this, we realised the cat also loves fish! This is quite a rich recipe and not one I would make on a regular basis, but for a nice dinner with friends it was the perfect choice. It didn’t take long to make either and is based on a recipe by Marcus Wareing in How to Cook the Perfect….

For 4 portions you need
500g frozen, cooked clams, defrosted
300g cooked and peeled prawns
450g smoked haddock, skin left on and cut into four portions
200g waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 large leek, cut into 1cm dice
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
50g plain flour and 50g butter for a beurre marnie
100g butter
200ml dry white wine
750ml fish stock
150g can sweetcorn, drained and rinsed
150ml double cream
Handful of roughly chopped fresh parsley

Begin by mixing the butter and flour together to make the beurre marnie. Leave to one side.

Melt the 100g butter in a large heavy pan and fry the onion, garlic and leek until softened. Add the potatoes and cover. Cook gently for 10 mins until slightly softened. Make sure it doesn’t catch or colour.

Meanwhile, place the wine and stock in a shallow pan and bring to the boil. Add the fish and poach for 2-3 mins until cooked. Remove the fish and leave to one side. Thicken the wine and stock mixture with the beurre marnie and add the cream.

Pour the stock into the cooked potato mixture and leave to simmer gently until the potatoes are 1-2 mins away from being cooked. Add the sweetcorn, clams and prawns and bring back to a simmer. Finally add the cooked fish to the soup to re-heat gently.

Serve in large bowls, garnished with the parsley.

by Categories: fish, potatoes, prawns, shellfish, soup, sweetcorn Leave a comment

Christmas Soup

So called as it’s a taste of Christmas in a bowl 🙂 A very quick and easy dish to throw together in seconds but tastes like you’ve spent ages making it!

For one hungry person you need
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped plus the leaves of some, finely chopped for decoration
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 tbsp veggie stilton
1 tsp Gourmet Garden crushed garlic
400ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper
1 tsp vegetable oil

Begin by sauteeing the celery, carrots and onion in a pan with the oil for 8-10 mins until tender. Add everything else, apart from the celery leaves and stilton, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins until the veggies are all cooked then add the cheese and blitz until the soup is lovely and smooth. Reheat, season and serve decorated with the celery leaves. Perfect December fare.

by Categories: carrots, celery, easy, gourmet garden, onions, quick, soup, vegetarian Leave a comment

Coconut Dhal Soup with Carrot and Parsnip (v)

This is a perfect autumnal warming dish, and it only takes a few minutes to make. I guess if you were Jamie you could do it in 15 mins, but I am not so did it in a more sedate 22 and made less mess than he would have… It used up some sad carrots and parsnips that were languishing at the bottom of my fridge nicely. It freezes well and you can adjust the quantities easily to feed more or less people.

For 2-3 portions you need
1 can coconut milk
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup red lentils
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, bashed
1 inch piece ginger, grated
A little water, depending on how thin you want your finished soup
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp each mustard seeds and ground garam masala, tumeric, coriander, cumin
Handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Splash chilli oil

Being by frying the spices in the oil until the mustard seeds pop. Add all the veggies and cover with a lid and sautee for a few mins. Add the lentils and fry for another 1-2 mins. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-15 mins until the lentils and veggies are cooked. Blitz to a puree and add some water if it’s too thick. Re-heat and serve garnished with the fresh coriander and a drizzle of chilli oil. Delish!

by Categories: carrots, curry, easy, parsnips, quick, soup, vegan Leave a comment

Roasted Squash, Carrot and Onion Soup with Chilli (v)

It’s definitely autumn here now: cold, misty, and in need of filling, warming food! This soup hits the spot fair and square. It’s a delicious combination of velvety smooth pureed squash and warming chilli and spices. A doddle to make, but luxurious to eat.

For 2-3 portions you need
1 spaghetti & 1 acorn squash (or equivalents of other squashes!) deseeded and cut into rough slices, skin on
1 onion, peeled and quartered
3-4 carrots, cut into rough chunks
1 tsp each of cumin, ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2-3 birds eye chillies
1-1.5 litres of vegan stock (depending on thickness of soup desired)

Place the squash, carrots and onions onto a baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle over the spices and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a moderate (170 degree) oven for about 30 mins until soft and cooked.

Scoop the squash off of the skin and place in a pan along with the onions, carrot and chillies. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Puree using a stick blender, check seasoning and serve with oodles of fresh crusty bread. Delicious!

by Categories: autumn, butternut squash, carrots, easy, quick, soup, squash, vegan, vegan mofo Leave a comment

Kale with Carrots, Pasta and White Beans (v)

This got loads of likes earlier on instagr.am and it did taste as good as it looks. A very quick, healthy and tasty soupy stew to knock up on a working from home day the day after my organic box was delivered!

For two portions you need
1 onion chopped (I used three small ones from the garden)
2 cloves garlic
2 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
2 huge handfuls kale, washed and finely shredded
1 tsp vegan stock
500ml boiling water
salt and pepper
1 tin butterbeans, drained
1 tbsp olive oil
small handful wholewheat pasta – I used spaghetti but anything will do

Begin by sauteeing the onion and carrots in the oil for 5 mins or so. Add everything else and bring to the boil. Reduce and simmer for 10 mins until the pasta is cooked. Serve and slurp with satisfaction. Nom.

by Categories: carrots, easy, garlic, kale, pulses, quick, soup, stew, vegan Leave a comment