The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (21 page)

Makes 4-6 good-sized bowls or 8 small bowls

olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 celery stick and/or carrot, chopped

1kg vegetables (cooked or uncooked), chopped

about 1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock (see
pages 27
-
30
) or water salt and pepper

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic and celery and/or carrot and cook gently, covered, for 5-7 minutes, until softened but not coloured.

Add the vegetables, stir around and cook for 5 minutes.

Add enough stock or water just to cover, plus some salt and pepper, then simmer gently for 10 minutes, if using cooked vegetables, or about 20 minutes for raw vegetables.

Allow the soup to cool a little and then blitz to a creamy smoothness with a hand-held blender or in a liquidiser. Adjust the seasoning.

Reheat in a clean saucepan to serve.

A full list is impossible, but here are some of my favourite soups:

Roast vegetable
Put anything leftover from a roast (including scraps of meat, if you like) into the pan after cooking the onion base. Pour over stock or water to cover, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, then blitz. Consider adding roasted red peppers or garlic, too.

Parsnip
This is my husband David’s take on a classic Jane Grigson recipe. Peel and dice the parsnips and add them to the onion base. Stir in ½ teaspoon of curry powder and cook very gently for 5 minutes. Add stock or water and simmer until the parsnips are tender. Blitz. Add 2 tablespoons of milk right at the end. Great with a dollop of black olive tapenade.

Root vegetable
Carrots, potatoes, parsnips, swede, celeriac and turnips can be used on their own or in combination – with ½ teaspoon of curry powder or not, as you like, or a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary. Potato starch will make for a thick soup; add stock to thin things down.

Carrot
Wonderful with a teaspoon of toasted and crushed caraway seeds or of grated fresh ginger added a minute or so before the liquid. It also works well if you use equal quantities of carrot and squash.

Pumpkin
This is lovely if you add a good pinch of dried chilli flakes to the onion at the start. Use half coconut milk and half stock or water.

Celeriac and apple
The mild tang of celeriac is gorgeous with the tart sweetness of apples. Add a medium potato to the base. For 1 medium celeriac use 2 eating apples, peeled and chopped. Serve with crisp bacon.

Pea or broad bean
Simple and equally good hot in winter or cold in summer. Use either fresh or frozen vegetables. You could use a bunch of chopped spring onions instead of the usual onion base. Add peas or beans, then vegetable stock to cover, and simmer until entirely tender (or the skins will not purée properly). Blitz. If serving cold, squeeze in lemon juice to taste, scatter over some chopped mint, chervil or dill and stir in a dollop of crème fraîche. If serving hot, add a grating of good Parmesan and some lightly fried garlic croûtons (see
page 52
) or crisp bacon pieces.

Broccoli
Works well lifted with a squeeze of lemon before serving and a plateful of chunky brown toast, each slice rubbed on one side with a peeled raw garlic clove. You could also use up the ends of blue cheese here by stirring them in gently just before serving.

Cauliflower
Grate a 2-3cm piece of fresh ginger into the onion base.

Potato and leek
Use equal amounts of diced potato and leek (floury potatoes are best) and a good vegetable or mild chicken stock, or a half-and-half mix of stock and milk. Purée and serve hot or cold.

Potato and watercress or spinach
With a good grating of nutmeg, this is sublime. Serve with chopped fresh coriander and a dollop of soft goat’s cheese. It’s also good with leftover sausage, chorizo or bacon.

Beetroot
For 4 peeled and grated beetroot, use a crushed clove of garlic and a litre of stock to cover. Simmer until the purple strips are entirely tender (which can take longer than you expect). Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, a dollop of crème fraîche and some chopped mint. Being unorthodox, I prefer to purée beetroot soup until it is so thick that it can practically be eaten with a fork. In this case, some toasted bread rubbed with a raw clove of garlic is essential.