Soup Recipes
Ham and Bean Soup
Makes 9-10 hearty serves, freezes well
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp minced ginger
3 cloves garlic
½ kg soup vegetables, diced
¼ savoy cabbage, finely shredded
1 jar Italian tomato sauce
2 litres chicken stock
1 ham hock, skin removed
2 tins borlotti beans, drained
½ cup red lentils
thyme and parsley, dried
Method
- Heat oil, garlic and ginger in a large heavy pot
- Chuck in vegetables and cabbage and stir for a little while
- Add tomato sauce, chicken stock, ham hock, beans, lentils, herbs
- Cover pot and simmer for about 1 hour
- Remove ham hock, rip meat off bone, cut into chunks, toss back in pot
- Process some of soup in blender then add back to pot and mix well. The portion to be blended depends on the desired consistency: blending about ½ to ¾ of soup makes it thick and smooth while retaining some chunky bits.
Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup
Makes 6-8 hearty serves, freezes well
Ingredients
1 kg orange sweet potato
½ kg pumpkin
1 onion
2 or 3 celery sticks
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tsp minced ginger
1½ litres chicken stock
1 tin coconut milk, approx 400ml
1 tsp nutmeg
Method
- Peel and chop vegetables while preheating oven
- Bake sweet potato and pumpkin for one hour at 180°C
- Heat olive oil in stock pot, add garlic and ginger
- Add chopped celery and onion, cook for a while
- Add chicken stock, sweet potato and pumpkin, return to boil
- Simmer for a while, stirring occasionally, until it looks right
- Shove the lot into a food processor and blend until smooth, then return to pot
- Add coconut milk and nutmeg, heat gently without boiling