Winter Warming Soups
What soups do you make? Hearty vegetable, Pumpkin, Tomato, Mushroom, Asian noodle. We thought you might like some ideas for soups that were a nice change from the favourites that we all tend to make.
Savoury & Sweet soups - We serve apple sauce with pork or fruit salsa's with meat, so why not mix vegetables and fruit in a soup? See what we came up with.
Cold soups - I have served cold soups before and found the common feedback is that the idea of eating food which your palate expects to be warm is just weird. The flavour usually wins family and friends over and is particularly suitable as a light entree before a heavy meal.
Dessert soups - This is a really nice soup that can be found in many parts of Europe. If you have not tried it, go on, give it a go because with the amount of fruit we have available in NZ, it is a great way to use seasonal fruit. If you drink fruit smoothies, you will like these soups and you could also try serving them as a brunch dish. Green Garden Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1/3 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 1/3 cups fresh spinach, washed & chopped
- 1 1/3 cups lettuce (iceberg or buttercrunch style best) - rinsed, & torn into small pieces
- 1 1/3 cups fresh parsley, chopped
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
Directions
- 1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add onion, carrot, and celery to cook until onion is softened (approx 5 minutes).
- 2. Add chicken stock and rice and bring to boil.
- 3. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until rice is cooked (approx 30 mins).
- 4. Stir in spinach, lettuce, and parsley and cook until just wilted.
- 5. Season with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Use an immersion blender (or blend in batches in a blender) until smooth.
- 6. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
Alternatives:
- Use vegetable stock for a vegetarian version of this soup.
Peachy Soup
A delicious dessert soup that is excellent on a hot summers evening.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup peach schnapps
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp fresh mint, chopped
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup milk
- 10 fresh peaches, sliced
Directions
- 1. Put white wine, peach schnapps, sugar, mint leaves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cream and milk together in a bowl, and stir until well blended and sugar is dissolved.
- 2. Add sliced peaches, and transfer to a saucepan.
- 3. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently and reducing heat if necessary to prevent scorching cream, until peaches are tender.
- 4. Cool to a safe temperature for blending.
- 5. Process in a blender or food processor until completely smooth. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- 6. Serve chilled and garnish with some chopped mint.
- Try black boy peaches for a lovely colour option.
- Any flavoured vodka that goes with peach can be substituted for the schnapps.
- If you have chocolate mint in your garden, it is a nice alternative for common mint.
Red Cabbage & Apple Soup
This serves 6 people and is best made on the day.
Ingredients
- 15g butter
- 1 medium leek, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 cups red cabbage, finely sliced
- 120ml tomato juice
- 1 tsp Worcester sauce
- 1 medium apple, grated
- 1 medium potato, grated
- 1 litre water
- 1 stock cube, chicken or vege
- 1 Tbsp chives, chopped
Directions
- 1. Heat butter, leek, garlic and 1/4 cup water over medium heat for 10mins until leek is tender.
- 2. Add rest of ingredients except chives and bring to the boil.
- 3. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for approx 20-30mins when potato is tender.
- 4. Blend or process in batches until smooth.
- 5. Gently reheat when ready to serve and garnish with chives.
Blueberry Soup
This serves 6 people and is best made on the day.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 cup fruity white wine (or white grape juice)
- 2 cups fresh blueberries (or frozen ones, thawed, with their juice)
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- Bring the sugar, orange juice, wine or grape juice, and 1 cup water to boil in a medium pot. Boil for 1 minute, stirring.
- Add blueberries and cook 1 minute more.
- Remove from heat and leave to cool.
- Blend or process the mixture, or strain it through a fine sieve, and chill.
- Pour into individual bowls and swirl in the yogurt just before serving.