It’s Autumn here, and it’s the perfect weather for soup! This week’s class over on Eventbrite (grab a ticket if you haven’t already, it’s FREE!) is focusing on three great soups: a Roasted Tomato, Caramelised Butternut, and our popular French Onion soup.
Making soup is really easy. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment, and you can make a lot or a little depending on your needs. In essence, you heat up a load of vegetables, and sometimes meat too, in a large pot, add some flavoured water or milk, and cook until everything is tender. Some soups are smooth and creamy, others are chunky. You can have soups with a thin broth, or that are thick like gravy.
Soups you may have heard of are:
- Vichyssoise – cold potato soup
- Bouillabaisse – spiced tomato-based with seafood soup
- Gazpacho – like salsa, but a soup, also cold
- Minestrone – a seasonal soup with pasta scattered through
- Hot n Sour – a classic Asian soup with spices to cure what ails you
- Chicken noodle soup – a Jewish classic with Matzo balls
- Chowder – a thick and creamy potato based soup from New England
However, this week we’re making three soups: roasted tomato, caramelised butternut, and French onion. All of these soups are amazingly tasty and oh so easy to make. So, from here, just follow the recipes in the post and enjoy!
Oh, of course, if you’re coming along to the FREE livestream Cook-a-Long session, then we’ll be making them together! Just have your ingredients ready to go, and follow along. On that note, let’s cook!
Soup Making Ingredients:
A lot of soups will have a vegetable base, including; onions, garlic, carrots, celery, etc which are used to make up a ‘mirepoix’. Which is just a fancy way of saying a super tasty base for just about any type of cooking. On top of that, there could be tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, potato, beans or lentils, corn, and sometimes even pasta. Other flavourings could include bacon, ham, chicken or beef stock/broth, and even fish or shellfish. Don’t forget those herbs and spices either, all the usual suspects including basil, parsley, peppers, salt, chillies, paprika, etc.
You really can make soup out of just about anything, it’s a whole world of culinary creativity that’s just waiting for you to explore.
Soup Making Equipment:
Chopping board: Every kitchen needs one, and this one will last you a lifetime!
Knife: You won’t get far in cooking without a decent knife, and this pairing knife will do most jobs with ease!
Wooden Stirrer: A kitchen essential, don’t get caught short.
Measuring Jug: This jug is great for measuring liquids, and solids. This one has imperial and metric measurements for accuracy and convenience!
Grater: If you prefer to grate by hand, then this box-style grater is exactly what you want.
Roasting tray: You’ll need one of these for many recipes; the Sunday roast, turkey or other roasting joints, and of course the world’s best crispy potatoes.
Stockpot: This whopping 7.8lt pot will be more than big enough for this recipe, it can also be used for cooking pasta, and boiling vegetables!
Soup Bowls: If you’d rather serve your soup in individual bowls, then these chic French-style oven proof soup bowls will be ideal.
Autumn Soup Recipes
And now for the recipes! Print them, save them, or bookmark them for later, here they are:
Roasted Tomato Soup
Equipment
- Stockpot
- Blender/Stick blender
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Roasting tray
- Greaseproof paper
- Wooden stirring spoon
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg Tomatoes cut into quarters
- 90 ml Olive oil
- 20 g Salt
- 15 g Black pepper
- 2 chopped yellow onions
- 6 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 30 g Butter
- ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp Basil
- 1 tsp Oregano
- 2 tsp Parsley
- 800 g tinned tomatoes chopped
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 litre chicken stock
Instructions
- Line a roasting tray with greaseproof paper, and preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Cut the tomatoes and onions into quarters, place both in the roasting tray and pour half the olive oil, the salt and pepper, and herbs evenly across the top. Roast for 45mins.
- Heat a large stockpot over medium heat the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Carefully pour in the oven-roasted vegetables and their liquid. Mix thoroughly, simmer for 20mins.
- Remove from heat, and allow to cool for 10mins, then using either a blender or stick blender, process until smooth - leave a few lumps if you want a more rustic style.
- Serve with cheesy toast, or a grilled cheese sandwich, or topped with herby-croutons and a few shavings of parmesan cheese.
Caramelised Butternut Soup
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Stockpot or large saucepan
- Knife
- Roasting tray
- Greaseproof paper
- Blender or Stick blender
Ingredients
- 2 kg Butternut squash/pumpkin
- 180 g Butter melted
- 125 g Brown sugar
- 1½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Black pepper
- 1 Onion large
- 2 cloves Garlic
- ½ tsp Nutmeg ground
- 1 lt Chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C, and line a roasting tray with greaseproof paper.
- Top and tail the butternut, scoop out the middle membrane with seeds (hold onto these for great pepitas), and dice the butternut into 3cm/ 1½” sized pieces.
- Place the diced butternut on the tray, pour over the melted butter, and scatter the brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Toss carefully, and spread evenly. Bake for 45mins, or until golden in colour and tender.
- While the butternut is roasting, heat a stockpot our large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Dice the onion, and garlic, gently fry in olive oil until just golden.
- Add the roasted butternut to the onion and garlic, mix and continue to cook for approx. 5mins. Pour in the stock, cover with a lid, and simmer for 10mins.
- Remove from heat, allow to cool for 10mins, then process in either a blender or with a stick blender until completely smooth.
- Serve with a swirl of cream, and some cut chives.
Soupe à L'oignon or French Onion Soup
Equipment
- Large saucepan, or Stockpot
- Stirring Spoons
- Measuring jug
- Measuring cups
- Serving bowls
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg yellow onions sliced
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 50 gr butter
- 1 tsp of sugar
- Salt
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 lt beef stock
- 125 ml dry vermouth or dry white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- To Serve:
- 1 stick French bread or baguette
- 375 ml Comtè, Gruyere, or Emmental cheese grated
Instructions
- In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, or stockpot, warm the olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add the onions, and begin to soften, stirring frequently, this should take 15-20mins.
- Once softened, turn the heat up to medium high, add the butter, and cook the onions until they are golden brown, about another 10-15mins.
- Add the sugar, this will help with the browning (caramelisation), and a little salt. After another 5-10mins, the onions should be thoroughly browned.
- Finally, add the garlic, stir for another 5mins.
- Once the garlic is cooked in, add the vermouth or white wine. Use a flat/square stirrer to scrape away the stuck bits at the bottom of the pot.
- The soup base is now ready to add the stock, and the herbs.
- Begin to simmer the soup with a lid, aim for a low simmer with only the occasional bubbling. The soup should simmer for about 30mins, to fully develop the flavours.
- Add any additional salt and/or pepper to taste, remove the bay leaves, and finally, add the brandy to complete the dish.
- As the soup simmers, preheat your oven to 220˚C/450°F, place a rack in the upper third of the oven, and line a baking sheet with aluminium foil - do not use parchment or baking paper, as this could burn at high heat.
- Carefully cut the baguette into thick slices, about 1” or 2.5cm, and brush evenly with olive oil on both sides.
- Toast the baguette n the oven until a light brown colour, 5mins should do.
- Remove from the oven, and turn over to toast the other side, adding the Gruyere/Emmental cheese before returning to the oven. Bake until the cheese begins to bubble and get golden-brown spots.
- Once the soup has simmered, and the cheese topped baguette is ready, serve by ladling soup into serving bowls, and place one to two slices of cheesy baguette on top.
- You can also finish this soup in the oven: use individual oven-proof soup bowls, or a single large pot. Pour the soup into the bowl, top with the baguette when it’s only toasted on one side, un-toasted side up, scatter the cheese over the baguette and then bake or broil/grill until the cheese is golden-brown and bubbling, about 10mins.
Thanks for checking out this post on how to make French Onion, Roasted Tomato, and Caramelised Butternut soups. I hope you make them soon, and if you do, please come back and post a comment, or share a photo with the tag: #LarderPantryandGarden.
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