Soup-er

It’s the type of weather here today that makes you want to drink tea and make soup. Therefore I am doing just that. It is my mise en place time for the week, to make post-workout dinners that little bit easier and quicker. Even if the result is soup-overload by about day three (aka Wednesday I suppose).

I will now share with you a tale from a previous time of my life. Are you sitting comfortably? We were travelling through France on a shoe-string (a chaussure-string perhaps) but decided one day to splash out on a butternut squash. I know what you’re thinking – a totally reckless act. The reasoning behind the purchase was mostly due to the fact that the vegetable in question was shaped like a massive ‘J’ – it simply had to be done. The squash was dissected and a vat of soup was created, bottled and packed into the Peugeot for a week-long camping expedition. This proceeded to last us the entirety of our trip, additions being stirred in for the sake of variety – one day we added cheese, one day ham, one day cheese and ham (wild), one day we didn’t mess with it (nature) and so on and so forth. You get the picture and possibly will understand why squash was vetoed for a fair while after this episode.

Experiencing these periods of frugality enables you to truly appreciate the times when you are able to afford minor luxuries from the food world. It also tends to reduce waste I am not a fan of throwing away food unless it is rancid in appearance or flavour. Which in itself is a diet tip, if you need it – to stop yourself overeating cook something that tastes revolting.

Here’s my soup which will give me a few meals this week. I don’t find it revolting. Now if that’s not a selling point then what is?

Sunday Soup

Knob of butter
Splash of olive oil

The following should all be diced
2 onions
3 carrots
2 large sticks celery
2 potatoes
5 or so mushrooms

The following should be chopped finely
1 large garlic clove
1 large red chilli
2cm root ginger

Zest of one lime
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin lentils, drained
1 tin coconut milk
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
Salt and pepper

In a large saucepan over a medium heat melt the butter and add the oil. Whack in all of the diced veg and stir – don’t let it stick to the bottom. If it starts sticking then turn down the heat a bit. Fry off for about 5 minutes.

Add your finely chopped items. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes. Add the lime zest, stock and lentils plus any more hot water needed to cover the veg completely. Bring to the boil then cover, turn down the heat and leave to simmer gently for at least half an hour. Go and do the washing up, have a drink (too early for a G&T?), read the Sunday papers or something.

Return to your soup. You can continue to let it cook for longer if you like, give it a taste and see what you reckon. It will need pepper and maybe salt if you feel it is required (sometimes the stock provides enough salt). Slurp in the coconut milk, then finally add the chopped coriander.

You are allowed to eat it there and then if you want. It’s not against the rules.