Over the course of the week, my partner and I get all the cuttings from vegetables, bits and pieces from dinners we don’t use, and put them into a freezer bag.
Those cuttings then go into a pot, with water, and we get our own stock. It’s pretty great; it’s formed the basis for the soup I’m having for lunch today.
Apart from the cost savings, it’s also nice and homely just going through the process. Vegetables boil. The flavour deepens. The stock reduces. Then you top it up again, the flavours develop a little more, and then you get a clean tasting liquid that makes everything you add it to so much better.
Thing is: what kind of soups do you like to make?
By default, my partner will go for a chicken and corn, almost Asian-style soup. I have a penchant for just throwing in whatever, but I’ll often go with celery, zuuchini, tomatoes and beans, resulting in more of a Mexican-esque taste.
The stocks we make are almost always chicken, because it’s too good to grab a $7.95 chook from Woolworths after 5pm. You can do whatever you want with the chicken — sandwiches, put it into a sauce and a slow cooker for some dodgy homemade Vietnamese rolls, or just eat it off the carcass with a fork because you’re lazy like me and bugger it you’re hungry.
What about yourselves?
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33 responses to “Off Topic: Soup”
Pumpkin Soup. Tried and tested.
What’s the best sort of bread or roll goes with it though? That’s going to be a messy topic that one.
Nah. Sourdough or black bread every time. Best.
Sourdough is the correct answer, well done.
Sour dough with butter and grated cheese then toasted is great with a veggie and lentil soup
Cape seed roll.
If you’re willing to work for it, nothing beats home made bread, you can either knead it by hand or pick up a cheap bread maker.
1. Tomato
2. Minestrone
3. Potato & Bacon
The rest are heresy.
I don’t tend to make soup for myself, but Pho is the best.
Making soup is easy. Get a bunch of things, cook them a bit and then add water or stock and leave it alone for a few hours.
But pho is the best.
I know it’s not hard, I just tend to cook other things.
I was like you once. Then Freya taught me how to make goulash. Admittedly goulash is just paprika and beef with whatever veggies you want.
Single man with limited freezer space. Soup is fine, but I have other things I can put in my freezer.
I make a veggie and lentil soup and also a Taiwanese beef soup with udon noodles. Recipe as follows;
A bunch of spring onions roughly chopped
2 red chillies finely chopped
A whole bulb of garlic finely chopped
A 1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
2 Cinnamon sticks
6 star anise
2 brown cardamom pods
Half cup soy sauce
Quarter cup of rice wine vinegar
4 cups beef stock
6 cups water
1kg cheap beef chopped in 1 inch pieces
500g fresh udon noodles
Asian green veggies of your choice
Fry up spring onions, ginger, chilli and garlic in some oil
Add stock, water, soy sauce, vinegar bring to boil
Put spices in a canvas bag and add to soup, add beef
Bring back to boil, reduce to low heat and cover
Simmer for at least 4hrs until beef is extremely tender
Add asian veggies and noodles about 10 minutes before serving
Pumpkin or Potato and Leek are the best.
Potato and leek is FANTASTIC. So hearty. Love it.
+1 for both of these. They are my favs
I’ve got a pretty rad roast chicken and capsicum soup that I make in the slow cooker.
I start off by roasting chicken thighs, some capsicum, onion and garlic.
While that’s going on I saute celery and carrot in butter. Chuck in some cumin and cayenne pepper to the slow cooker. Dice all of the roasted stuff (or just chuck the chicken in if it’s on the bone) and add a tin of diced tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas. Add chicken stock and finish off with some quinoa and a dash of tabasco.
Slow cook on low for as many hours as you can and when you’re done you have a tasty, tasty soup.
Goes well with goats cheese on sourdough.
My wife makes a great Chicken and Vege soup. Takes a long time but its worth it
I made a French Onion a couple of weeks ago and it worked out ok (just a bit salty)
Cheese and Cauliflower is awesome (with a good cheese), And Broccoli and Leek is another good one thats easy to whip up
If I’m cooking, borsch. If I’m buying, pho.
Yep. Polish White Borscht in particular. So good.
I am quite fond of a dutch curry soup my sisters husband makes.
Pea and ham or chicken and veg soup with a nice hot crusty loaf, awesome on a cold shitty winters night.
Also a quick tip, if you don’t have long to make soup, a quick 25 minute cook in a pressure cooker gets the job done.
Cauliflower (with a dash of Cumin)
Red Capsicum
If I’m doing canned soup then normally either a chicken and corn or a pea and ham.
For home-made then a good hearty bacon bone soup is great although we have recently been doing a carrot based soup and adding rice noodles to serve.
Slow cooker pea and ham soup. It takes a bit longer but throw in some meaty ham hocks it is so satisfying cause you get all the marrow and ham flavor ad well.
Pumpkin and Sweet Potato. Mushroom. Chicken. Lamb and Barley. Pho (it counts?) beer and mushroom goulash. Oh man soup is the best.
My speciality would be a traditional soup from where I hail. Two main ingredients are potatoes and chicken. You slice huge amounts of different kinds of potatoes really thin and slow cook them in water with the chicken and condiments for hours until the potatoes basically melt. It is a very hearty and satisfying soup.
“but I’ll often go with celery, zuuchini, tomatoes and beans”
You pretty much just described Minestrone.
I’m usually a Chicken and corn man or a Pumpkin soup man, but you need to make it without potatoes. I had potato in pumpkin soup. Sure it’s cheaper and fills it up more but it takes way too much away from the flavour of a good pumpkin soup with some herbs and spices (touch of basil, sage, paprika)
Pro tip for pumpkin soup, roast your butternut pumpkins diced with whole cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil first. If you can refrain from eating the entire tray of roast pumpkin you have a great base for your soup. Just fry up some onions and leeks in butter, add your veggie stock, bring to boil, remove from heat, add your roast pumpkin then blend
Oooh. Good advice. I love making potato mash with roasted potato and garlic (and a hint of paprika). Makes some of the best mash you will ever have.
I don’t make any because I am a lazy. But there’s a great one that’s full of beans, chickpeas, lentils and stuff, with a tomato based broth and loaded with cinnamon. Pretty great. Nothing beats Nanna’s minestrone though, even though I’m not sure it’s actually minestrone – usually whenever I see it too is a tomato based soup, but hers doesn’t have any tomato in it.
Potato and Leek is the BEST!
Withold some potato after cooking, then use a stick blender on the main ingredients after for a flavourful puree. Then, add chunky bits like Bacon and small bits of potato withheld before pureeing for texture and flavour hits.
Definitely Sour Dough for bread, and try ‘True Blue Garlic Butter’ from Woolworths as your spread! AMAZE-BALLZ!!!
My favourite game last year was Bloodborne.
No Mans Sky really seemed to upset a lot of people
Caldo Tlalpeño has been a hit at home lately. Basically a chicken soup with lots of carrots, chickpeas and garlic topped with whole chipotle chiles, avocado and a crumble of feta. Named after the Tlalpan neighborhood of Mexico City where it’s from, I guess.