Let’s ease into this....
Vegetable Soup with Little Stars
To celebrate getting my stove sorted out after too long I made some soup. I was feeling rough this morning so didn’t go down the market but managed to amble out in the low winter sun round to my local grocers and was pleased to find all the things I need for a simple vegetable soup. One pleasant surprise was a bag of little pasta stars or stelline which apart from being perfect for soups are also cute looking alphabeti spaghetti for grown ups!
Vegetable soup is one of those pleasingly simple tasty things, ultimately adjustable to the time of year and what you find at the shop or in your cupboard. I think however it should always include one of the most of the following:
“Alliums” (onion, charlottes, celery, leeks, scallions or garlic)
Root veg (carrots, swede, parsnip, kohl rabi, turnip)
Starch (potatoes, rice, and pasta)
Legumes (peas, beans)
And additionally greens (cabbage, turnip tops, parsley, celery greens)
My version today.
1 leek medium about 20 cm of white!
4 medium carrots
Half a Kohl rabi
1 medium potato
1 medium red onion
Handful of frozen peas
Large handful of green beans sliced
8 mushrooms
Handful of stelline (little stars) pasta
3 sticks of celery plus the chopped leaves if they are worth eating
2 bay leaves
2 Veggie stock cubes
2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Salt and pepper
Large pan
Stock: (I did what I normal do which chop and wash the top of the leeks, one of the carrots, 2 bay leafs , 2-4 pepper corns and 2 veggie stock cubes) as to amounts I measured out 4-6 portions of water in my soup bowls 2 litres. I boiled the above for 30 mins until the carrot was soft. I then careful sieved the stock leaving the gritty last few drops in the pan.
Time: around an hour (plus 30-40 minutes for stock)
What to do:
1. Make stock (see above)
2. While the stock is boiling peel and chop the veg into small pieces of similar sizes i.e. so they will fit on a spoon.
3. In a large stock pan heat the oil and add the chopped and washed leeks, onion and celery.
4. Allow the leeks onion and celery to sweat down for 5 mins.
5. Add the stock to the pan once the stock is back to the boil let the veg cook for 5 mins. till it softens.
6. Add a couple of grinds of black pepper
7. Now add the sliced beans and mushrooms and cook for further 5 minutes.
8. Now it’s the turn of the potatoes and kohl rabi which need about 10-15 minutes of cooking . In general make sure everything is cooked through.
9. Add frozen peas and allow soup to come back to the boil.
10. Check on the pasta packet how long the little stars take to boil mine said 6 mins and add the pasta.
11. Once the pasta is cooked check the seasoning it’s best to do it now because the starchy items like the pasta and the potatoes absorb salt so add it now and another grind of pepper and the chopped celery tops.
12. Serve in this case with some Turkish flat bread from the shop.
Vegetable Soup with Little Stars
To celebrate getting my stove sorted out after too long I made some soup. I was feeling rough this morning so didn’t go down the market but managed to amble out in the low winter sun round to my local grocers and was pleased to find all the things I need for a simple vegetable soup. One pleasant surprise was a bag of little pasta stars or stelline which apart from being perfect for soups are also cute looking alphabeti spaghetti for grown ups!
Vegetable soup is one of those pleasingly simple tasty things, ultimately adjustable to the time of year and what you find at the shop or in your cupboard. I think however it should always include one of the most of the following:
“Alliums” (onion, charlottes, celery, leeks, scallions or garlic)
Root veg (carrots, swede, parsnip, kohl rabi, turnip)
Starch (potatoes, rice, and pasta)
Legumes (peas, beans)
And additionally greens (cabbage, turnip tops, parsley, celery greens)
My version today.
1 leek medium about 20 cm of white!
4 medium carrots
Half a Kohl rabi
1 medium potato
1 medium red onion
Handful of frozen peas
Large handful of green beans sliced
8 mushrooms
Handful of stelline (little stars) pasta
3 sticks of celery plus the chopped leaves if they are worth eating
2 bay leaves
2 Veggie stock cubes
2 tablespoons of olive oil.
Salt and pepper
Large pan
Stock: (I did what I normal do which chop and wash the top of the leeks, one of the carrots, 2 bay leafs , 2-4 pepper corns and 2 veggie stock cubes) as to amounts I measured out 4-6 portions of water in my soup bowls 2 litres. I boiled the above for 30 mins until the carrot was soft. I then careful sieved the stock leaving the gritty last few drops in the pan.
Time: around an hour (plus 30-40 minutes for stock)
What to do:
1. Make stock (see above)
2. While the stock is boiling peel and chop the veg into small pieces of similar sizes i.e. so they will fit on a spoon.
3. In a large stock pan heat the oil and add the chopped and washed leeks, onion and celery.
4. Allow the leeks onion and celery to sweat down for 5 mins.
5. Add the stock to the pan once the stock is back to the boil let the veg cook for 5 mins. till it softens.
6. Add a couple of grinds of black pepper
7. Now add the sliced beans and mushrooms and cook for further 5 minutes.
8. Now it’s the turn of the potatoes and kohl rabi which need about 10-15 minutes of cooking . In general make sure everything is cooked through.
9. Add frozen peas and allow soup to come back to the boil.
10. Check on the pasta packet how long the little stars take to boil mine said 6 mins and add the pasta.
11. Once the pasta is cooked check the seasoning it’s best to do it now because the starchy items like the pasta and the potatoes absorb salt so add it now and another grind of pepper and the chopped celery tops.
12. Serve in this case with some Turkish flat bread from the shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment