Winter chicken soup with cheddar

This soup is a brilliant way to get rid of leftovers after a roast dinner.And, except for chopping up the veggies, this soup really takes no time to cook up for a healthy, filling and warming cold winter's day lunch. If you have an extra bob or two, spruce it up by adding Parmesan but cheddar will do just fine too.





Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
Thyme
Sage
tsp ginger
1 clove of garlic
1.5 l chicken stock
1 c orzo
1 potato
3 stalks of silverbeet (Swiss chard)
3 carrots
1/4 pumpkin
Small kumara (Sweet potato)
Salt & Pepper
Cheddar or parmesan

Method:
Pour a tablespoon of olive oil in the sauce pan. Soften the onion and garlic.Make sure they do not burn! The burned pieces float to the top of the soup and look rather unappetizing.
Add thyme, sage leaves*, ginger,salt and pepper, and freshly made chicken stock. Bring to the boil.
Add a cup of orzo, chopped potatoes, kumara, carrots and cook for ten minutes.
Try chopping all veggies about the same size cube.
Lastly, add pumpkin, silver beet as they take less time to cook.
And finally, add the shredded chicken left over from Sunday's roast!Cook for a few more minutes so the chicken has a chance to heat up.
Serve with grated cheddar or parmesan on top.

YUM!
Footnote
* I try and be ahead of seasons and pick fresh rosemary, coriander, thyme, sage leaves, basil and chives and freeze them in takeway containers, ready to be used in dishes when needed.

Carrot and cumin soup recipe - it's all about orange

Oops! I made a mistake! instead of carrot and coriander (to follow) here is a carrot and cumin soup recipe. And while you are cooking, why not explore the colour orange?

Orange means vitality with endurance. People who like orange are usually thoughtful and sincere. Lady luck's color is orange. It is also found that orange foods are asspciated with health and stimulate appetite.

There is a great book which writes about the history on many colours used over centuries.
It's called "Colour: Travels through the paintbox" by Victoria Finlay. A wonderful read over a hot bowel of homemade Carrot and cumin soup! Colour is available at Amazon UK (amazon.co.uk) for 2 quid and 44 pence.

Now back to the recipe, this is a quick and easy to make soup recipe that will add meaning to your life once you have tasted it!

Ingredients:

1 onion (orange)
quarter of a pumpkin (orange)
6-8 carrots (orange)
1l chicken stock or veggie stock (orangy)
2 tsp brown sugar (orangy)
2 tblso cumin
quarter cup of orange juice (orange)

Prepare the vegetable stock by mixing 4 Oxo vegetable stock cubes with 1 litre of water (Or fresh chicken stock). Then chop all the veggies, throw them into a good size sauce pan and cook them in the vegetable stock until they are soft.

Roast the cumin in a pan. Chuck the cumin in the sauce pan too.

When everything is cooked blend it all and add a quarter of a cup of orange juice while keeping on blending until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and fresh chopped coriander.

Now put the book down, pour yourself a nice glass of sauvignon blanc and toast to colours and the colour orange in particular. Should keep you nice and healthy.

Adapted from www.bbc.co.uk

Seasonal winter soup ideas

Here are some great soup recipes that will keep you on budget, nourished and warm over winter.

You do need a blender or food processor though. I bought a blender at Countdown which still goes after four years, and you can perhaps pick up a blender or food processor cheaply at either Cash Converters or charity shops.

Here are broccoli and blue cheese, French onion and maple pumpkin.

Soup #1 Blue cheese and broccoli soup

Less than 30 minutes cooking time
Serves 4

350g broccoli, florets and stalks cut into small pieces
400ml vegetable stock
25g butter
1 onion, finely sliced
50g blue cheese, crumbled, or to taste
100ml double cream (I always keep long life cream in the pantry for occasions like this)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation method
For the soup, place the pieces of broccoli into a glass bowl. Pour over the vegetable stock.

Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the microwave.Cook on full power for four minutes, or until tender. Or, boil broccoli in a sauce pan until tender.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan until hot then add the butter. When it starts to foam, add the diced onion and cook for one minute.

Transfer the cooked broccoli and stock to a food processor. Add the fried onion, blue cheese and cream and blend until smooth.

Transfer the blended mixture to a pan and bring gently to a simmer.

Season the soup with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.

Divide the soup equally among four warm bowls.Serve.

For more ompf! add some potatoes in the mix!
How? Boil three potatoes, chuck into the mix to blend with broccoli and onion.


Soup # 2 French onion soup

Clever little classy onion soup.Cheap, filling, easy to make, and heart warmingly good at any time of the year.

Less than 45-50 minutes cooking time
Serves 4


50g butter
1kg brown onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp thyme, picked leaves
3 tbsp dry sherry
beef stock fresh, cube or concentrate made up to 1.2 litres
1 baguette, sliced
1 garlic clove, halved
extra-virgin olive oil
100g tasty, grated

Preparation method
Heat the butter in a large pan and gently cook the onion and thyme until the onion is softened but not browned - about 20 minutes.

Increase the heat slightly and cook for 15 minutes, until the onion becomes dark golden, sticky and caramelised, stirring now and again to stop it catching.

Add the sherry and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then add the stock and bring to the boil. Season. Simmer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the bread, rub each slice with garlic, then drizzle with a little oil.

Sprinkle with the cheese and grill until golden and bubbling. Serve the soup with the cheese croutons on top.

Makes a perfect entree to a meaty meal.

Soup #3 Pumpkin soup

Less than 45 minutes - 1 hour cooking time
Serves 10+

For all you pumpkins out there.

1 pumpkin
1 onion
knob of butter
1 can of coconut milk
1.5 litres of vegetable stock ( 6 Oxo cubes in 1.5 litres of water)
Curry powder (Mild, medium or hot)
Maple Syrup

Preparation method
Chop and peel pumpkin into manageable size.

Soften pumpkin by either cooking or baking it.

Chuck a knob of butter in a large sauce, dice onions and soften them over medium heat.

Add can of coconut milk, and a tablespoon of curry powder to the sauce pan.

Now start adding pieces of pumpkin and with a hand blender begin processing the pieces of the pumpkin as you put them in, adding vegetable stock as required until there are no lumps left and the soup is nice and smooth.

Constantly taste to see whether the soups need more seasoning.

Add a squirt of maple syrup when serving the pumpkin soup. A dollop of sour cream goes well too.

To add more ompf! fry up some bacon and sprinkle over the top.



Four others to be added over the next months. They are:

Mushroom with zucchini
Potato and leek
Pea and ham
Carrot and coriander

Once I have trial and error'ed these, tested them again myself and written down each individual recipe, I will immediately update this blog with these new recipes, so you can keep taking it easy because I find that making soup is child's play and a lot of fun.Watch this space!