Loop de Loop*

I do like a nice bowl of homemade soup when the weather is a little chilly.  I'm not fussy, any combination of veggies makes a nice soup as far as I'm concerned, although I'm not so keen on soup with meat in it.  Last night's soup was made from the veggies left over from Sunday's evening meal - mainly broccoli, a couple of carrot batons and some potatoes.  I just added half a large onion, gently sauteed, some water and a couple of teaspoons of Marigold Vegetable Bouillon.  It was very tasty with a pleasingly green hue from all the broccoli. 

I have been known to follow a proper recipe to make soup - carrot and coriander, leek and potato, sweet potato and sweetcorn, pumpkin, mushroom, and beetroot soup - but I think often the tastiest combinations come about by accident - just because they were what happened to be leftover or what was lurking in the fridge.  What has made soup making so much easier, and therefore more likely to happen, was buying a hand / stick blender.  Mine is a super-simple one which takes seconds to soup up any cooked vegetable and, more importantly, only seconds to wash clean too.  When I used to use a food processor to make soup, and had to go through all the hassle of washing the jug, jug lid, blades, sides of the processor etc etc every time, soup was rarely on the menu.

When I look at the prices of those posh soup cartons in the supermarket I wonder who on earth pays that much to have a bowl of soup.  I don't even think they're very nice, certainly nowhere near as tasty as homemade soup.  Although I will make an exception for Heinz Tomato Soup - that really can't be beaten.  I once tried making tomato soup when we had a glut of tomatoes - it was disgusting and horrendously time consuming and looking back I should have just made a load of tomato sauce instead.  We live and learn.  What are your favourite winter soup recipes?

*Loop de Loop was how Dad always referred to soup.  If we went out for lunch somewhere Dad would invariably decide he'd have the 'Loop de Loop' to start - with a nice buttered roll on the side.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Looks really yummy, I love vegetables. I have a stick blender as well and agree that it makes the difference between making soup all the time, and never wanting to bother.

[French Knots]

I often make soup from the left Sunday Roast veg, it does me for lunch for several days. I love making roasted butternut squash soup, roasted with the skin on as I'm lazy and once it's blended who's to know? I like my stick blender too but often find the soup splaters out if I do it in a jug so end up draping a tea towel round it to keep the kitchen clean!

[white o'morn cottage]

Looks lovely! You can't beat homemade soup or Loop de loop!