Winter is soup weather. Soups are easy to make and are a great way to utilise any excess produce.
Most basic soups begin by cooking off a mix of finely chopped onion, celery and carrot, then adding other vegetables/meat cooking and adding the liquid component. The liquid can be water, cooking water from other vegetables, whey, or stock made with either a stock powder, or from boiling vegetables and/or meat in water to extract the flavour.
The secret to a good soup is to have a good base. Stock can be made from boiling bones with a splash of vinegar, some garlic, onions, celery, carrot and a couple of bay leaves. The bones used can be left over from a roast or they can be raw bones, browning them first is a good idea for extra flavour. Strain and discard bones, meat and vegetables. Vegetarian stock can be made from boiling any vegetables together with herbs and garlic just until cooked, then strain and discard vegetables.
Powdered stock can be made for extra convenience. Powdered stock can be made from blending the following ingredients together:
• 2 cups nutritional yeast,
• ¼ cup each garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, dried oregano and dried rosemary,
• 1/3 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons of pepper.
This is a base recipe that I use, taken from a website called joyfilledeats.co. The salt can be adjusted to taste and turmeric and other spices can be added. It can be stored in an airtight jar in the cupboard and used as any stock powder, the bonus being that you know what it contains. Garlic and onion powder can be made by dehydrating the inner skins and flesh of garlic and onion, as can any herbs used.
Roasted vegetables can be added to the soup mix as can other pulses/lentils. Cream, coconut milk or cream, can be added after vegetables have been blended together. To add interest to soup, texture can be added with the addition of crunchy toppers, such as croutons, crispy fried bacon or cheese chips (made by melting cheese to the point that it becomes crispy).
To answer a question that was emailed after last month’s article about ricotta, which may be something other people were wanting to know: 1 litre of full fat milk has a yield of approximately 130 g ricotta cheese, 1 litre Hilo milk has a yield of approx. 100g ricotta cheese.
