Vegetable Soup

This soup is one of the first things I remember learning to make during home economics class in secondary school and I have been making it ever since. You can use any combination of vegetables including onions, celery, carrots, parsnip, potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, turnip and lentils. I tend to use whatever I have in the cupboard or fridge however the onion and celery are non negotiable as they form the basis of 99% of soups.

There is nothing better than coming in from a walk or a football match on a cold winters day and sitting down to a bowl of this warm and tasty soup. It really does warm you from the inside out.

I use a stick blender to puree my soup as it is far easier than a liquidizer. You can put it straight into the saucepan and you never have to worry about the hot liquid coming out of the lid as with a liquidizer. Some stick blenders come with a range of attachments including a whisk and I recommend getting one of these if you can afford it.

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Vegetable Soup

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 onion
• 2 sticks celery
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 carrots
• 2 potatoes
• 1/2 butternut squash
• 1 sweet potato
• 50 g lentils
• 1 ltr stock
• 1 tbsp herb de provence
• salt
• pepper

Instructions

• Chop all the vegetables into large chunks. You will be pureeing the soup so the size and shape doesn't matter too much
  
• Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, celery and garlic. Saute for 3-4 minutes
  
• Add the other vegetables and saute for 10 minutes with the lid closed
• Add the lentils, stock, herbs, salt and pepper and bring to the boil
• Turn the soup down and simmer for 45 minutes.
  
• Using a stick blender, puree the soup until it is smooth. If it is too thick then add some water.