Courgette (zucchini) and tomato soup

serves 4-5

1 tblsp butter or oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
350g/12oz courgettes (zucchini), grated
1 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
600ml/2 1/2 cups chicken or veg stock
1 tblsp tomato ketchup or puree
1 tblsp dried basil

Cook the onion in the fat until soft. Add the garlic and grated courgette, cook 3 minutes, stirring. Add rest of ingredients, bring to boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Cool slightly, then blend in a liquidizer, a little at a time, until smooth. Return to the pan, reheat gently, adding salt and pepper if wished.

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This is very quick and easy; even someone who doesn't normally like courgettes (which are called zucchini in America) will probably enjoy this soup. It looks like canned tomato soup when it's smoothly blended, but of course the taste of home-made soup is always vastly superior to that in cans!

Serve with freshly-baked bread for a filling and nutritious lunch. If you make it with vegetable stock, it's suitable for vegetarians.

Curried Carrot and Ginger Soup

Carrot and Ginger Soup

(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5cm ginger root, peeled and grated
    OR 1-2 tsp ginger powder 
1 tbsp curry powder
900g  carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1.6 litres stock or water
200g cooked chickpeas (optional)

Method:
Gently cook the onion and garlic in the oil in a large pan, stirring, until softened. Stir in the ginger and curry powder, and cook for another minute. 

Add the carrots and a little of the stock, and cook for another minute or two. Add the rest of the stock, and the chickpeas, if used. Bring to the boil, and simmer for about 45 minutes. 

Cool slightly, then blend in a liquidiser (or with a stick blender) until it turns into a thick soup. Taste, and add a little salt or pepper if necessary. 

Return the soup to the heat and cook gently, stirring, until piping hot. Alternatively use a slow-cooker/crockpot to reheat gently for at least two hours, until gently bubbling.

 

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This is a tasty soup which is quite spicy. If you don't like hot tastes, reduce the amount of the ginger and curry powder, or even leave the curry powder out. The ginger does give a pleasant tang to what would otherwise be quite a bland soup.

I have a mini-processor that came with my stick blender, which I use to chop onions and also to chop the carrots, after peeling. I can't add them all at once, but it takes the tears out of the onion-chopping, and makes the carrots small enough that there are no pieces that remain unblended, as can happen with larger pieces. 

The chickpeas were not part of the original recipe, but I like to add something to give soup a bit of protein.  There's no discernible taste or texture to them after liquidising. 

Any kind of stock can be used, meat or vegetable, or with a stock cube; sometimes I just use water. If you have leftover wine that could be added too. And if you're serving to someone who hates garlic, just leave it out. You can always experiment with other herbs or spices.  

After the simmering, this looks most unappetising, with bits of vegetable floating in a sea of dark-coloured liquid. Don't worry. The blending turns it into a lovely orange soup that is excellent for a cold day, eaten with fresh bread. Using a stick blender, if you have one, is much easier (and less messy) than decanting into a goblet liquidiser, but avoid using a non-stick pan if you're going to use a stick blender.