There’s nothing to beat good old-fashioned soup made with fresh ingredients when it comes to availability, versatility, and the art of saving money on your supermarket shopping.

About the only soup unworthy of the name is the one in the Cabbage Soup Diet (I tried it twice and couldn’t get past Day Two) which is vile, and a complete waste of time and effort – everybody knows you put the weight back on the first time you eat a Malteser. Having said that, if you want to lose weight sensibly and painlessly without reducing your energy levels, you could do a lot worse than including plenty of homemade soups in your diet. All soups freeze well and can be stored in large and small amounts; for family dinners, or for taking to work and re-heating in the microwave – very handy when you want to avoid the temptations of the deli or sandwich bar.

Make soup more appealing to children by adding croutons, grated cheese and pasta shapes, or give them a bit less soup (a little goes a long way in any case) with a hot dog or toasted sandwich on the side.

You can’t go far wrong with soup whatever you do, so use these recipes as a guideline and make the rest up as you go along.

Tips

To thicken soup, whisk in a couple of tablespoons of potato purls (oh how much more respectable that sounds than ‘instant mash’), while the soup is still warm. Almost as outrageous as a celebrity chef using Knorr stock cubes, but there it is.

Unless otherwise specified in the recipe, add the herbs and spices mixed with the stock for even distribution.

Add a spoonful of Marmite or Vegemite to larger amounts of stock, instead of a second stock cube.

Use alternative herbs and spices if you like, but don’t miss them out altogether; they do make a difference. (Buy bouquet garni ready made-up in little tea bags to save time.)

For creamed soups, pour the cream over the surface in a circular movement, straight from the carton, or create a marbled effect by zigzagging a knife or the edge of a metal spoon through the trail of cream.

ORANGE SQUASH SOUP

1 lb (500 g) carrots
1 butternut squash (any size)
1 large onion
1 small orange
1 1/2 pints (750 ml) chicken or vegetable stock
1 clove of garlic
Ginger, coriander, salt & white pepper
Sunflower oil
Butter

METHOD

• 1.Melt the oil and butter in a large saucepan while you peel the butternut squash (removing the pips and pithy inside completely) and scrape the carrots.
• 2.Roughly chop the squash, carrots and onion, put them in the pan with the crushed garlic and leave to soften over a low heat for a few minutes.
• 3.Add the zest of half the orange to the saucepan with the ginger, coriander, salt and pepper.
• 4.Cut the orange into quarters and make sure the pips are removed; give each quarter a little squeeze as you add it to the pan, then pour over the chicken or vegetable stock and give it a good stir.
• 5.Cover with a lid, turn the heat right down and simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
• 6.Remove the orange quarters and throw them away.
• 7.Blend the soup and add salt and pepper according to taste.

SLUG & CELERY SOUP

There’s an even quicker way to make this soup; just put the raw ingredients with the seasoning, milk and wine in the food processor, blend the whole lot until smooth (one minute, max), then heat it up in a large saucepan.

1 head of celery with leaves left on
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp plain flour
1 pint (500 ml) chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 pint (125 ml) milk
1 great big slug of white wine (say half a glass)
Celery salt or salt & white pepper
Sunflower oil
Butter

METHOD

• 1.Melt the butter and oil in a large saucepan.
• 2.Wash and chop the celery and onion and cook gently over a low heat for a few minutes with the crushed garlic.
• 3.Stir in the flour and cook for another minute.
• 4.Add the chicken or vegetable stock with the seasoning. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down, add the wine and milk and simmer gently for up to 30 minutes.
• 5.Adjust the seasoning and blend.

WATERCRESS SOUP

Another good one for speed and simplicity (not to mention a healthy dose of iron), watercress soup also doubles as a great sauce to have with any white fish or salmon.

1 or 2 bags of watercress (or a couple of large bunches) depending on size
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp flour
Butter
1 pint (500 ml) chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 pint (125 ml) milk
Parsley
Salt & pepper
Single cream

METHOD

• 1.Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion with the garlic and parsley and cook gently for a few minutes until the onion is soft.
• 2.Add the watercress, cover the pan with a lid and cook for another few minutes.
• 3.Stir in the flour; keep stirring for another minute, then remove the pan from the heat and add the stock and milk.
• 4.Bring the soup to the boil, stirring occasionally, then turn the heat down and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• 5.Blend the soup; add a swirl of single cream and garnish with sprigs of watercress, or sprinkle more parsley on top.

STINGING NETTLE SOUP

I’ve always liked the idea of making soup with nettles. There’s something very appealing about a type of leaf that’s plentiful, accessible, full of vitamins and minerals and – until someone decides to market stinging nettles as the latest, must-have ingredient – they’re FREE!

This recipe is more or less the same as the one for watercress soup (above) and, not surprisingly, the end result also looks and tastes very similar. The difference is you need a pair of rubber gloves to make this soup; the nettles don’t lose their sting until they’re cooked and, as you’d expect, they also need to be washed more carefully.

Pick only the top two or three inches of the youngest, brightest green nettles you can get your hands on (ouch) and don’t worry too much about the quantity; as a rough guide, the equivalent of a medium-sized bag of watercress or spinach is just fine.

Nettles
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 pint (500 ml) chicken stock (2 stock cubes)
1/4 pint (125 ml) milk
1 tsp nutmeg
1tbsp malt vinegar
2 heaped tbsp plain flour
2 tsp dried parsley
Butter
Salt & pepper

METHOD

• 1.Wearing rubber gloves, plunge the nettles into a bowl of cold water with lots of salt, and fish them out a few at a time to wash properly in another bowl of cold water, or under the tap, until you’re sure they’re clean. (Remove any big, tough stalks if there are any, otherwise the leaves can stay attached to the stems.)
• 2.Warm some butter in a large saucepan while you peel and chop the onion and crush the garlic, then put them in the pan and cook gently for a few minutes until the onion has softened.
• 3.Squeeze excess water from the nettles – still wearing the rubber gloves – and add them to the pan with a spoonful of vinegar. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer gently for about 5 minutes before adding the chicken stock, milk and nutmeg.
• 4.Stir well and bring the soup to the boil while you mash 2 heaped tablespoons of plain flour, 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 teaspoons of dried parsley in a cup or bowl, until smooth.
• 5.As soon as the nettle soup has started to boil, turn the heat right down and add the parsley butter and flour mixture, stir until dissolved, then leave to simmer gently for about 5 minutes.
• 6.Blend the soup and garnish each serving with a fresh sprig of nettle. (Only joking.)

SWEET POTATO SOUP

2 sweet potatoes
2–3 carrots
1 onion
3-4 rashers of bacon (streaky or back)
1 tbsp flour
2 pints (1 litre) chicken or vegetable stock (2 stock cubes)
Salt & pepper
1 tbsp butter

METHOD

• 1.Wash and chop the vegetables and make the stock.
• 2.Melt the butter in a large pan and pop the bacon in for a couple of minutes on its own, then add the vegetables and fry for a further five minutes.
• 3.Add the flour and cook for a minute.
• 4.Stir in the stock, bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer for about 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft.
• 5.Allow to cool for a few minutes and blend.

LENTIL & VEGETABLE SOUP

There’s no end to what you can do with lentils and vegetables; use red or yellow lentils if you want to avoid soaking the lentils in advance, otherwise, brown and green lentils or chick peas will do the job.

8 oz (approx 200 g) red lentils
2 small potatoes
1/2 small swede
2–3 carrots
2 –3 sticks of celery
1 smallish parsnip
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 pints (1 litre) vegetable stock (2 stock cubes)
Salt & pepper
Oil
Parsley

OPTIONAL:

1 level tsp curry powder

METHOD

• 1.Warm the oil in a very large saucepan and gently fry the onion and garlic until the onion is soft.
• 2.Add the lentils and cook for one minute.
• 3.Add the rest of the vegetables and seasoning and cook on a low heat for another 5 minutes or so.
• 4.Add the stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 –30 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
• 5.Blend, adjust the seasoning and serve garnished with parsley.

SPICY BEAN SOUP

Beans are good for your heart, the more you eat the more you realise how easy it is to make something nourishing with them.

High in fibre, low in fat and cheaper than chips; use fresh beans if you like (they’re even cheaper), but tinned ones are normally just as good. You’ll find all of the beans listed here beside the baked beans in the supermarket.

This soup isn’t blended at the end, so slice or dice the vegetables finely, the way you want them to look in the finished soup.

Any 2 (different) tins of beans from the following list: borlotti beans, butter beans, broad beans, canellini beans, kidney beans, chick peas
2 courgettes
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
4 rashers of back bacon (rind and fat removed)
2 cloves of garlic
2 pints (1 litre) beef, lamb or pork stock
2 bay leaves
1 level tsp curry powder or cumin
Worcester sauce
1/2 tsp mixed spice
2–3 tbsp potato purls
Oil

METHOD

• 1.Heat the oil in a very large pan and prepare the vegetables, then snip the bacon into small pieces and fry until crisp and golden.
• 2.Add the finely chopped celery, carrots, courgettes, onion and garlic and fry for another 10 minutes until everything looks ready.
• 3.Add the stock with the spices and bay leaves mixed in and simmer for 15–20 minutes.
• 4.Drain the tins of beans, add them to the soup and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• 5.To finish: sprinkle the potato purls into the soup, whisking with a small hand whisk or a fork until dissolved.

TOMATO & RED LENTIL SOUP

This can be thinned down and used as the sauce for a pasta bake (see Salmon & Tomato Bake, Chapter 10: Weekly Menu Planning).

It goes without saying that you can always use fresh ingredients instead of tinned if you want to, so if you’re using fresh tomatoes for this, put them in a pan of very hot water for a minute, then fish them out with a slotted spoon; the skin should peel away easily and they’re ready to use.

2 –3 tins of chopped or plum tomatoes (or 2 lbs (1 kg) of fresh)
8 oz (200 g) red lentils
4 rashers of streaky bacon
2 onions
2 1/2 pints (1.25 litres) chicken stock (2 stock cubes)
1 tsp brown sugar
Basil
Salt & pepper
Butter
Olive oil

METHOD

• 1.Peel and roughly chop the onion, snip the bacon into pieces and wash the lentils thoroughly in a sieve or colander.
• 2.Melt a little butter with some olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and bacon for a few minutes until golden.
• 3.Add the lentils to the pan, followed by the tomatoes, stock and seasoning and stir well.
• 4.Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
• 5.Blend the soup; adjust the seasoning and, if necessary, thin it down with a little more stock, milk, or tomato juice, according to taste and requirements.

MINESTRONE

Use whichever beans you like; borlotti, canellini, kidney beans, chick peas or mixed beans.

4 oz (100 g) or 1/2 cup of small pasta shapes, such as farfallini
4–6 rashers of streaky bacon
1 onion
1 small green and 1 red pepper
2 courgettes
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of beans (see notes)
2 cloves of garlic
2 1/2 pints (1.25 litres) chicken stock (2 stock cubes)
Oregano or Italian herbs
Basil
1 tsp soft brown sugar
Pepper
Olive oil
Crouton
Parmesan/grated cheese

METHOD

• 1.Warm a little oil in a very large saucepan and fry the bacon and onion until crisp and golden while you prepare the rest of the vegetables. (Don’t add anything else to the pan too soon or you’ll never get the bacon crisp.)
• 2.Add the celery, courgettes, carrots, peppers and garlic, followed by the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock mixed with the herbs and sugar.
• 3.Stir well, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 10 minutes.
• 4.Add the pasta and the tinned beans and simmer for another 15–20 minutes, until the vegetables and pasta are just soft.
• 5.Season to taste (add a little tomato puree if you like) and serve with croutons and parmesan, or any other grated cheese.

SMOKED MACKEREL CHOWDER

Don’t worry too much about the size and weight of the fish, or the number of fillets in the packet; the chowder will turn out okay however much fish you use.

1 packet of smoked mackerel fillets
1 1/2 pints (750 ml) milk (whole or semi-skimmed)
Potatoes (say 4 medium-sized or 6 small)
2 leeks
1 onion
2 serving spoons frozen sweetcorn
1/4 pint (125 ml) single cream
1 tbsp flour
Dried parsley, roughly 2 tsp – or more, according to taste
Butter
Oil

METHOD

• 1.Peel and chop the potatoes into small chunks; wash and finely chop the onion and leeks.
• 2.Melt butter and oil in a large saucepan and gently brown the potatoes for a few minutes. Add the onion and leeks and fry for a few more minutes until the onion has softened, then stir in the flour and cook for another minute.
• 3.Add the frozen sweetcorn, pour in the milk with the cream and bring to the boil while you remove the skin from the mackerel and flake the fish, making sure there aren’t any bones.
• 4.Turn the heat right down and add the mackerel to the pan with the parsley, stir well and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are just soft.
• 5.If you want to thicken the chowder at the end, add a little corn flour or 1 tbsp plain flour to another 2 tbsp cream. For a thinner consistency, just add more milk.

MEAT SOUPS

Soups in which meat is the main ingredient naturally take longer to cook, but the preparation is still straightforward – and once the soup’s cooking you can go off and do something else.

BORSHT

I hated beetroot as a child, and even though it’s never going to be one of my favourite vegetables (I still can’t stand it pickled in vinegar), I do like borsht. It probably helps that I put less beetroot and more beef in mine than in some of the other recipes I’ve seen, so if you also think you hate beetroot, give borsht a try; you might be pleasantly surprised.

About 2 lb (1 kg) stewing or braising steak
2 fresh, raw beetroots
1/2 small white cabbage
1 carrot
1–2 sticks of celery
1 onion studded with a few cloves
Bouquet garni
1 14 oz (410 g) can of chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
2 bay leaves
2 tsp brown sugar
1 small carton sour cream

METHOD

• 1.Trim any fat off the meat and cut into small, even pieces, then put in a large saucepan with 2 pints (1 litre) of fresh, cold water.
• 2.Peel the onion, leaving it whole, and stick a few cloves into it.
• 3.Wash the carrot and celery sticks; leave them whole or cut them in half so they’re easier to fish out of the pan later on.
• 4.Put the onion, carrot, celery and bouquet garni into the pan with the meat; turn the heat up high and bring to the boil.
• 5.When the water is boiling, turn the heat right down, skin the scum off the top with a slotted spoon, cover with a lid again and leave the soup to simmer very gently for about 30 minutes.
• 6.Meanwhile, peel and cut the beetroot into matchstick-sized pieces and finely shred the cabbage.
• 7.When the meat is almost tender, get rid of the carrots, onion, celery and bouquet garni, and use a cup or ladle to remove about 1/4 of the liquid.
• 8.Add the beetroot, cabbage and the rest of the ingredients – tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar and bay leaves and simmer very gently for about 1 hour, until the beef is very tender.
• 9.When you think the soup is ready, pick the bay leaves out, and if you want the soup to be a bit less liquid, thicken it with a tablespoon of butter mixed with 1 tbsp plain flour.
• 10.Add sour cream to the Borsht to finish, and serve with soda bread.

CHICKEN SOUP

Use the chicken carcass to make the stock for chicken soup; it’s a lot less hassle than you might think. It doesn’t matter whether you use the whole chicken or just the remains, but ideally you should have at least one-third of the meat left for the soup.

This soup is half blended, so cut the vegetables for the finished soup into smaller pieces than you would for the stock.

FOR THE STOCK:

Chicken carcass
3 –4 pints (2 litres) fresh, cold water
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
1 onion
2 bay leaves
4 black peppercorns

FOR THE SOUP:

1 small/medium organic, free-range chicken (cooked)
2+ pints (1.2 litres) fresh chicken stock
3 medium-sized potatoes
2 –3 carrots
2 –3 sticks of celery
1 onion
1 bouquet garni
Oil/butter

OPTIONAL:

Thyme or tarragon
Salt & pepper
1/4 pint (125 ml) single cream

METHOD

TO MAKE THE STOCK:

• 1.Remove the skin and as much meat as you can from the cooked chicken; discard the skin and set the meat aside.
• 2.Put the chicken carcass in a very large pot with the bay leaves, peppercorns, onion, carrots and celery; washed and roughly chopped, and cover with fresh, cold water.
• 3.Bring to the boil then turn the heat right down and simmer gently for up to 4 hours – or longer if you have time, but ideally, no less than 2 hours.
• 4.When you’re ready, remove the chicken carcass, vegetables and bay leaves and give the stock a good stir with a slotted spoon to make sure it’s clear. N.B. If you think you’ve got a lot more stock than you want for the quantity of soup you’re making, take out what you don’t need now and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.

TO MAKE THE SOUP:

• 1.Cut the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion into small pieces and fry them in oil or butter (or a bit of both) for a few minutes, in a very large saucepan.
• 2.Add the stock with the herbs and the bouquet garni (see notes, page 120), bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender but not mushy.
• 3.Remove the bouquet garni and blend half of the soup. Mix the remainder of the soup with the blended half and add the chicken, cut into small pieces. Warm the soup thoroughly, adding the cream at the end. N.B. If you’re making the soup for later, rather than eating it straightaway, allow the soup to cool before adding the chicken pieces.

SCOTCH BROTH

The first and, until recently, the last time I made Scotch Broth was at school, which, thinking about it now, must be an indication of two things; one, how times have changed, and two, how simple this must be if a thirteen-year-old could make it. (It was perfectly edible as well; we ate what I made at home.)

I can’t for the life of me think why I haven’t made it before now, not least because it’s great to be able to buy cheaper cuts of meat, knowing all it takes is a little time and gentle cooking to make it as tender and delicious as the more expensive ones.

I used 1 1/2 lb (725 g) of neck fillet (if you have a butcher, ask for scrag end of lamb) or if you prefer, use a similar amount of beef stewing steak.

1 –2 lb (500 g–1 kg) meat
2–3 carrots
2 leeks
1/2 small Swede or 2–3 turnips, depending on size
2 onions
5 –6 tbsp pearl barley
2 lamb or beef stock cubes
Parsley
Salt & pepper

METHOD

• 1.Cut up the meat with kitchen scissors; put the pieces in a large saucepan with enough water to cover – about 2 1/2 pints (1.5 litres) – and simmer with a lid on for 1 1/2 hours. (Skim the fat off the surface once or twice.)
• 2.10–15 minutes before the end of cooking time, wash, peel and dice the vegetables.
• 3.Put the barley into a small saucepan with just enough cold water to cover; boil for a few minutes before straining through a sieve and rinsing under the cold tap. (You don’t have to blanch the barley this way but it helps to prevent a scum forming on the finished soup.)
• 4.Add the barley, vegetables, parsley and stock cubes to the pan with the meat and simmer very gently for about 30 minutes until the vegetables and barley are just soft.
• 5.Serve the broth, adding as much of the liquid broth from the pan as you want.

CHILLED SOUPS

COOL CUCUMBER SOUP

The look of this soup is greatly improved by a few drops of green food colouring, but if you want to keep it as natural as possible (or you don’t happen to have green food colouring) it won’t matter too much if you leave it out.

2 large cucumbers
1 small onion
1 pint (500 ml) warm milk
1/2 pint (250 ml) chicken stock (1 stock cube)
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Salt & pepper
Butter
1 small carton of single cream
Mint

METHOD

• 1.Peel and halve the cucumbers, cut out the seedy bit in the middle and chop the cucumbers into chunks; peel and chop the onion.
• 2.Melt some butter in a large saucepan, fry the cucumber and onion for a few minutes before adding the flour and cooking for another minute, stirring all the time.
• 3.Meanwhile, warm the milk in another saucepan and make 1/2 pint (250 ml) of stock with 1 stock cube in a measuring jug, adding the nutmeg and seasoning to the hot stock.
• 4.Remove the pan with the vegetables from the heat and gradually pour on the stock and warm milk, stirring continuously.
• 5.Bring the soup to the boil, still stirring, then turn the heat right down and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
• 6.Allow the soup to cool for a few minutes then puree in a blender or food processor; adjust the seasoning and add a few drops of green food colouring, if you’re using it.
• 7.Chill the soup in the fridge for at least 2 hours; serve with a swirl of single cream and a sprinkling of mint.

HOT OR COLD LEEK & POTATO SOUP

This is basically a recipe for Vichyssoise, a classic cold soup, but it’s also very good hot ... so over to you.

1 lb (450 g) leeks
1 lb (450 g) potatoes
1 medium onion
1 1/2 pints (750 ml) chicken stock
1 clove of garlic
Chives
Butter
Oil
1 small carton single cream
Salt & pepper

METHOD

• 1.Peel the potatoes, rinse well and cut into small chunks; also top and tail and slice the leeks, and chop the onion.
• 2.Warm butter and oil in a large saucepan, add crushed garlic and the vegetables, then cover the pan with a lid and cook gently for a few minutes.
• 3.Pour on the stock, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer gently for 20–30 minutes until the vegetables are just soft.
• 4.Allow to cool for a few minutes, then puree the soup, blending thoroughly until the soup is very smooth. Adjust the seasoning, then either chill the soup in the fridge for a couple of hours, or re-heat when ready to use. Hot or cold, finish the soup with single cream and a sprinkling of chives.