Homemade Tomato & Basil Soup

Apparently Spring is on its way, but the weather here in England is firmly holding onto Winter for the time being.  For this reason alone, I decided to make a batch of tomato and basil soup to take to work this week.  When it's freezing cold and dreary looking outside, a warming bowl of soup has a tendency to make everything seem much better (or so my mother always used to say!).

Makes around 4 portions

Ingredients:-
- 1kg ripe tomatoes
- A large handful of fresh basil leaves
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 50g butter
- 300g onions, chopped
- Olive oil

How to:-
1.  Halve the tomatoes and spread them out on a baking tray.  Drizzle a little olive oil over them and then roast them for about 30 minutes or until softened at 220C / Gas 6.
2.  Heat the butter in a large pan and stir in the chopped onions.  Sweat over a low heat until they're soft.
3.  Add the vegetable stock to the onions, stir for about 5 minutes and then add the roasted tomatoes.
4.  Remove from the heat and transfer everything into a blender. 
5.  Add the fresh basil leaves, 3tbsp olive oil and blend until smooth.
6.  Season to taste and serve with warm crusty rolls.

Mum's Minestrone Soup

As a young child, I was an incredibly fussy eater and vegetables were not my friend.  My mum tried everything to get me to eat (or at least try) vegetables, but I often flatly refused unless they were covered in cheese, and even then, I'd still pick at my plate.  I don't remember how old I was, but one day I was in bed with flu and my mum made me a bowl of this Minestrone soup.  I ate everything and it soon became the only way I would eat any veggies for a long, long time.

My mum's homemade minestrone soup always had more carbs than vegetables in it (so that I would eat it I assume!), which makes it much more filling than the standard version, although many variations of minestrone exist and can be happily altered to accomodate all tastes.  This is the recipe that I still stick to and will probably be how I'll always make a good bowl of my mum's minestrone soup.

Serves 4

Ingredients:-
- 300g can of cannellini beans, drained
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 gloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
- 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
- 400g can of chopped tomatoes
- 2 large potatoes
- 150g dried spaghetti, broken into smaller pieces
- 50g petit pois or garden peas
- handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- handful of fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

How to:-
1.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, carrots and garlic.  Cover and cook on a low heat for around 20 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.
2.  Add the vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil and cover and simmer for around 15 minutes.
3.  Then add the beans, potatoes and spaghetti, and bring back to the boil.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender (but still retaining their form).
4.  Stir in the parsley and basil, season to taste and serve with warm crusty rolls.

Pea & Mint Soup

I love eating a simple soup for dinner in the summer months, I know it sounds odd, but I find it a lot easier to eat lighter/smaller meals when the weather is hot.  This Pea & Mint soup is a summer staple for me.  I like to make a big batch and then divide it up into portions and freeze it for later.

Ingredients:-
- 450g peas (garden or petit pois work well)
- 2tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 1 chopped onion
- 25g butter
- 1 finely chopped garlic clove
- 1 medium sized potato, chopped into equal pieces
- 750ml vegetable stock
- double cream to serve (optional)

How to:-
1. In a large saucepot, cook the chopped onion in the butter for about 2-3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Add the potato and vegetable stock.  Simmer covered for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add the mint and peas and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes,
4. Blend in a food processor until smooth and serve with double cream if desired.

Petit Pois Peas Risotto

I have always wanted to make a risotto dish from scratch, so I finally gave it a go today and it turned out really well!  The key seems to be the continuous stirring, as well as adding hot stock in a little at a time, but once you get the hang of that, it was surprisingly easy to do.

Serves 4 as a starter, 2 as a main

Ingredients:-
- 50g butter
- 250g risotto rice
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- 350g petit pois peas (or any kind of peas)
- 1 onion

How to:-
1. Heat the vegetable stock and maintain it a high but not boiling temperature.
2. Melt the butter on a medium heat in a seperate saucepan.  Finely chop the onion and add this to the butter, giving it a good stir, and cook until the onion is soft.  Add the risotto rice and a third of the stock.  Bring to a simmer.
3.  Using a ladle, add a little at a time of the rest of the hot stock to the risotto pan, making sure to stir, stir, stir!  Allow time for the rice to absorb a decent amount of stock before adding the next ladle.
4. Add the peas during the last two ladles and cook for another 5 mins.
5. Serve whilst hot.

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Notes: Risotto rice should be cooked al dente and it shouldn't be swimming in stock, you're aiming for a creamy consistency instead.  Traditionally, risottos contain parmesan, but I've omitted this as it contains animal rennet.  However, a good supermarket or health food store will usually carry at least one vegetarian (and in some cases vegan) alternative.  Likewise, simply substitute the butter in this recipe for an alternative if cooking for a vegan friend.

Back to Basics: Vegetable Stock

A good stock makes all the difference to your homemade soups etc and they're a wonderful way to use up any leftover vegetables you have lying about.  You can make a flavoursome vegetable stock with just about any variation of veggies, so do experiment with what you have and see what you like.  The recipe below is what I mainly use and always turns out great.

Makes about 2 litres

Ingredients:-
- 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 3 carrots, unpeeled & roughly chopped
- 4 or 5 mushrooms or 2 flat mushrooms, unpeeled & roughly chopped
- 3 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, peeled & crushed or finely chopped
- handful of fresh parsley
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves

How to:-
1. Place all of the ingredients into a large, deep pan.  Add 2 litres of cold water and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer and then cook on a low heat for around 2 hours.  You can add more water as needed.
2. Pour the vegetable stock through a sieve into a large bowl, pressing the vegetables in order to extract as much excess liquid as possible. 

Storage:-
If not using straight away, allow the stock to cool for about 30 mins.  Once its properly cooled, you can either store it in a container in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze it where it'll keep for up to 4 months.

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Once you've tried a homemade vegetable stock like this, you'll never go back to using those dusty old stock cubes ever again!