Soups
Cooking Skills: Vegetables 1
Chapter 6 · Soups
Skill goal
Make a vegetable soup from any vegetables, with good flavour, texture and seasoning.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Soup is the easiest way to eat a lot of vegetables, and a forgiving way to use the ones that are going soft. The method is almost always the same, and the quality depends on a few small things: how you start the onion, what liquid you use, and how you season at the end.
Sweating or frying the onion?
| Sweating | Frying (browning) | |
|---|---|---|
| Heat | Low-medium, lid on | Medium-high, lid off |
| Time | 8 to 10 minutes | 10 to 15 minutes |
| Result | Soft, sweet, translucent; clean flavour | Golden or brown; deeper, more savoury flavour |
| Best for | Delicate soups: tomato, carrot, green | Hearty, brown soups: onion, mushroom, lentil |
The liquid
- Stock (a cube, powder or bouillon, or homemade) adds depth. Check the salt: stock cubes are salty, so taste before adding more.
- Water works if the vegetables are flavourful (tomatoes, mushrooms, roast vegetables). Season more.
- Just enough: cover the vegetables by about 1 cm. You can thin a soup, but you can't thicken it without boiling it down.
Texture
- Smooth: blend fully. A potato, a handful of oats or a slice of bread thickens a thin soup.
- Half-blended: blend a third of it, then stir it back in for body and some chunks.
- Chunky: leave whole, and cut the vegetables in similar sizes.
Seasoning at the end
Taste and adjust once the soup is finished. If it is flat, add salt or a squeeze of lemon. If it's sharp, add a pinch of sugar or a little cream. Fresh herbs, a swirl of yoghurt, a few seeds or some croutons make it a meal.
Storing and freezing
Cool soup quickly (within 1 to 2 hours: divide into shallow containers), cover, and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days. It freezes well (for best quality, within about 3 months). Defrost in the fridge, and reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Tomato soup
Good tinned tomatoes make better winter soup than pale fresh ones. The soup is half the time spent on the onion.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp oil or butter
- 1 tin 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 300 ml vegetable stock
- 1 tsp sugar (optional)
- 1 tbsp cream or yoghurt, to finish (optional)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Warm the oil in a saucepan over a low-medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook with the lid on for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and translucent, not browned. This is sweating.
- Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the tomatoes, stock and sugar. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
- Blend until smooth (see the safety box), reheat, and taste. Add salt, pepper and more sugar if it tastes too sharp.
- Swirl in the cream or yoghurt.
Blending
Blending hot soup: hot liquid expands and can blow the lid off a jug blender and scald you. Use a stick blender in the pan if you can. If you use a jug, let the soup cool for 10 minutes, fill the jug no more than half, remove the centre cap of the lid and cover it with a folded tea towel, and start on the lowest speed. Don't blend with the lid fully sealed.
Level 2 · Simmer and blend
Carrot and ginger soup
Carrots are sweet, ginger is warm, and the stock holds them together.
Ingredients (3 portions)
- 400 g carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp oil
- 500 ml vegetable stock
- 1 orange, a squeeze of juice (optional)
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Sweat the onion in the oil for 8 minutes until soft. Add the ginger for 1 minute.
- Add the carrots and stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until the carrots are very soft.
- Blend until smooth. Reheat, taste, and season. Add orange juice if you want brightness.
Blending
Blending hot soup: hot liquid expands and can blow the lid off a jug blender and scald you. Use a stick blender in the pan if you can. If you use a jug, let the soup cool for 10 minutes, fill the jug no more than half, remove the centre cap of the lid and cover it with a folded tea towel, and start on the lowest speed. Don't blend with the lid fully sealed.
Level 2 · Green
Green soup (courgette and spinach)
Green vegetables go grey if they cook too long. Add the spinach at the very end, and cool the soup quickly if it is not to be eaten at once.
Ingredients (3 portions)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 courgettes, sliced
- 150 g spinach
- 1 medium potato, diced (to thicken)
- 1 tbsp oil
- 600 ml vegetable stock
- 1 handful basil or mint leaves
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Sweat the onion in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the courgettes and potato and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, until the potato is soft.
- Add the spinach and herbs and cook for 1 minute, just until wilted.
- Blend straight away until smooth, season, and serve.
Blending
Blending hot soup: hot liquid expands and can blow the lid off a jug blender and scald you. Use a stick blender in the pan if you can. If you use a jug, let the soup cool for 10 minutes, fill the jug no more than half, remove the centre cap of the lid and cover it with a folded tea towel, and start on the lowest speed. Don't blend with the lid fully sealed.
Level 3 · Chunky
Chunky minestrone-style soup
A chunky soup is about layers: slow vegetables first, quick ones and pasta last. No blending.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stick, diced
- 1 courgette, diced
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 tin 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 50 g small dried pasta
- 100 g green beans or cabbage, chopped
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the oil for 10 minutes on a low-medium heat, until soft.
- Add the tomatoes, stock, herbs and courgette. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the pasta and the beans or cabbage and simmer for the pasta's cooking time (usually 8 to 10 minutes) until it is tender.
- Season and serve. If it thickens, loosen with a little hot water.
Pasta
Pasta keeps soaking up liquid. If you want leftovers, cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl, or accept a thicker soup the next day.
Experiments
Experiment
Sweated or fried onions
Two pots of tomato soup.
- Make half the tomato soup recipe twice. Sweat the onion for 8 minutes in one, and fry it until golden brown for 12 minutes in the other.
Look for: The sweated version is bright and clean; the fried version is deeper and slightly sweeter and more savoury. Neither is wrong.
Experiment
Stock or water
Carrot soup.
- Make two small batches of carrot soup, one with stock and one with water. Season both only with salt.
Look for: The stock version tastes rounder and more savoury. The water version is simple and fresh, and may need more seasoning.
Experiment
Blend method
Stick blender or jug.
- Blend one batch with a stick blender in the pan. Blend another in a jug blender after letting it cool for 10 minutes, following the safety box.
Look for: A jug usually gives a smoother soup; a stick blender is quicker and has less washing up.
Experiment
Texture
Smooth, half or chunky.
- Take 3 bowls of the same soup: fully blended, a third blended, and left whole.
Look for: Compare the mouthfeel. Many people find the half-blended one the most satisfying.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato soup | ||||
| Carrot and ginger soup | ||||
| Green soup | ||||
| Chunky minestrone-style soup | ||||
| Sweated vs fried onions | ||||
| Stock vs water | ||||
| Blend method | ||||
| Smooth vs chunky |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Bland soup | Not enough salt, acid or stock | Season at the end; add a squeeze of lemon or a pinch of sugar |
| Too salty | Stock cube plus salt | Add water or unsalted stock, a peeled potato, or a splash of cream |
| Watery | Too much liquid | Simmer uncovered to reduce; thicken with a potato |
| Grey-green soup | Overcooked greens | Add the spinach at the end; blend and cool quickly |
| Lumpy blended soup | Vegetables not soft enough | Simmer longer and blend again |
| Burnt on the bottom | Heat too high | Don't scrape; pour into a clean pan and carry on |
Hot liquids and storage
Blending hot soup: hot liquid expands and can blow the lid off a jug blender and scald you. Use a stick blender in the pan if you can. If you use a jug, let the soup cool for 10 minutes, fill the jug no more than half, remove the centre cap of the lid and cover it with a folded tea towel, and start on the lowest speed. Don't blend with the lid fully sealed.Steam and boiling water: lift lids away from your face, because the steam is hotter than the water. Use oven gloves for pan handles and steamers, and tip the pan away from you when draining. Don't carry a pan of boiling water across a room with people or pets in it.
Leftovers: cool cooked vegetables quickly (within 1 to 2 hours), keep them covered in the fridge, and eat within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through, and only once.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can sweat an onion without browning it.
- I know how much liquid to add.
- I can blend a soup safely.
- I can choose between smooth, half and chunky.
- I season at the end and store leftovers properly.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Vegetables 1, chapter 7 is Salads and Dressings: leaves, dressings and warm salads.