[mumofstig]

I fancied soup but was getting a bit fed up with the usual old favourites..so went looking to see what I had to hand.

Frozen fried courgettes, mmm  potatoes and chopped onions, went into a pan with a little water til cooked. Liquidised and thinned with a little milk, salt and pepper added of course, a tea spoon of curry powder (not so much that it was curry flavoured) small pinch of chilli.....it wasn't quite right  ............ so I added - a small squirt of tomato ketchup  Ta Da!

A nice spicy soup which I will be making again 



Have you had soup success with unusual combinations?

[arugula]

The ketchup twist sounds interesting mum. I can't think of any particularly unusual combinations I've made, but I regularly throw any veg in together to make a soup, even the odd combination (to me) of celery and peppers work together in a tomato based soup.

[compostqueen]

I'm always making soup, which is a product of having an allotment full of veg much of the time and having an aversion to buying things if I can raid the pantry

A good one I came up with was celeriac, smoked bacon and mushroom, with a potato for texture. I had those big, tasty mushrooms so used those but it did give it a funny colour so I added a blob of cream to lighten it.  Chopped fresh flat leaf parsley on top

I made squash soup with tarragon (dried) which was a change from the usual nutmeg

[cheshirecheese]

One of my favourite combinations is to make a lentil soup in the usual way (which can be frozen as a basic soup in portions), but then to ring the changes I add a dollop of madras curry paste, a dollop of minced ginger (from a jar is fine), and some chopped chillies if you like a good kick to it (if you prefer it milder, just add cumin powder rather than the madras curry paste and leave out the chilli).  I then add a goodly portion of chopped red or yellow peppers and just heat through till bubbling - the crunchy peppers give it a lovely texture against the soft lentils, and they give it a sweetness too.

As for colour, like Compost Queen I find home-made soups can often look a little 'strange', but an addition of tomato puree seems to enrich the look of things and doesn't alter the flavour much.  Chopped fresh green herbs also improve things if the soup looks a bit murky and muddy coloured!

[snowdrops]

A recipe my sister sent me of spinach, pasta & chickpeas is a favourite of mine & also courgette & cream cheese that freezers so well & you can use up those over big courgettes

[Janeymiddlewife]

Have made several soups today, the usual minestrone, leek & potato, spicy lentil and will make sweet potato, chilli & coconut later from the left over mashed sweet potato.
I sometimes add lemon to lentil soup instead of tomato and a dollop of greek yogurt with thyme.

[madcat]

I like making noodle soups.  A good stock (from a ham bone or chicken or duck carcass), chilled, fat taken off it and then heated through.  Add chopped veg, cook to al dente, add noodles (bought in big packs of 10 from the chinese soupermarket  so they don't cost the earth) broken to size liked, any scraps of cold meat if you have them and just cook for further 3 mins.  Hot, filling and fast.

Last one was a bacon stock, with shredded savoy cabbage and cubed orange carrots, noodles broken fairly short .... looked fabulous and hit the spot!  Tomorrow night will be chicken stock with the leftover scraps of chicken saved from the carcass before it went into the slow cooker, noodles, leek tops and ...   hmmm.  Sweetcorn perhaps??   

[Auntiemogs]

Just about to try putting something together with some butter beans and pancetta, wish me luck! 

[mumofstig]

good luck and report back 

[compostqueen]

Pancetta!  Butter beans!  You can't go wrong. Slurp 

I make a noodle soup with onion, garlic, creamed sweetcorn, soy sauce, spring onions, chilli, ginger, squeeze of lemon and a beaten egg dropped in by degrees.  You can put in fat prawns or chicken.  Sometimes I'm too lazy to do the egg but it doesn't matter 

[Auntiemogs]

Pancetta!  Butter beans!  You can't go wrong. Slurp 

I make a noodle soup with onion, garlic, creamed sweetcorn, soy sauce, spring onions, chilli, ginger, squeeze of lemon and a beaten egg dropped in by degrees.  You can put in fat prawns or chicken.  Sometimes I'm too lazy to do the egg but it doesn't matter 

Ooh, that sounds lovely CQ. I've never tried creamed sweetcorn, think it's about time I did!  Bet that would be nice with a bit of lemongrass and chilli too...

[compostqueen]

It is lovely but our T*sco seems to have stopped stocking it. I still have one tin left in the pantry

[Auntiemogs]

It is lovely but our T*sco seems to have stopped stocking it. I still have one tin left in the pantry

Mmm...they can be a bit variable due to demand. Mine only started stocking arborio rice last year so we must be going up in the world...

[stentman]

I make soup in bulk and freeze it off, occasionally to give my soup a bit of a lift I have used a whole jar of the hot chilli dip. The sort of thing you dip your pringles in. In an 8 serving pan of veg soup it doesn't make things to hot but adds a bit of pep.

[Ice]

I'm roasting a tray of veg, parsnips, sweet potato, red onion, potato, carrots, garlic head, chopped chorizo, olive oil and thyme. Going to make it into soup tomorrow but havn't tried it before with roasted veg like this.  Hopefully a good way to use up all the veg that's in need of attention.

Some of my best recipes are happy accidents.