Autumn Days
The clocks have gone back, the evenings draw in and the leaves on the trees are turning brown. The temperature is dropping and the winter woollies will be finding their way out of the wardrobe.
So what is the good news? The results of harvest time are in the shops - from cauliflowers, potatoes and carrots to leeks, apples, swedes and celery. And it is easy to buy local from market stalls, the Thursday Farmer's Market or The Real Food Store, Exeter.
This is a great time of year to warm your cokles by making soup! If you have ever tasted home made soup, whether made by yourself or bought in a cafe, you will know how much better it tastes than tinned or packet soup. You can feel it doing you good as its warmth and taste nourishes you, all the way down to your toes!
Warm Up with Homemade Soup
Soup is so easy to make and if you cook up a large batch, you can keep it in the fridge for a few days and just ladle out a portion and heat up when you require it. Or pop it in a thermos flask and take it with you for your lunch! Soup, like stews, often taste better the next day when the flavours have had more chance to develop and mingle.
There are lots of soup recipes on Penny's Recipes, but you can adapt these and add your own ideas and flavourings. All you need to do for delicious soup, is take your favourite vegetables, boil up with a bit of stock and flavouring and a delicious soup will be yours! You do ideally need a blender for some of the recipes, but not all.
Even try some more unusual combinations. I have been surprised at how popular Cauliflower and Apple Soup has been. Actually apples are used more frequently in soup recipes than you might think - ideal as apples have been so prolific this year and you may have had enough of apple crumble! (Is that possible??)
But don't be afraid to try some classics either. A home made Tomato Soup really is more delicious than any tinned soup - no matter how notstalgic you may be about a particular brand from your childhood!
Whatever your home made soup adventures, or indeed your easy, low cost and seasonal cooking adventures I would be delighted to hear from you.
To get you started - here is one of my favourites
Parsnip and Apple Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
1 large cooking apple, peeled and chopped
600ml vegetable stock
500ml milk
1 teaspoon, mixed, dried herbs
4 tablespoons single cream (optional)
Serve with crusty bread.
