CATALAN SOUP RECIPE

This spicy catalan soup recipe is a soup of contrasting textures. The vegetables and sausage are diced but kept whole. The soup is not put into a blender, so the stock is a thin delicious liquid. You can of course alter this if this texture is not to your taste.

These are some of the ingredients for the Catalan soup, carrots, turnip, onion and potato.

This shows the chorizo sausage chopped into small pieces before going into the soup. This sausage is a spicy sausage that we get in the UK from Spain. I expect that the same can be obtained in different parts of the world or use a substitute which is spicy, hot and a good firm texture. I got a German version at a German Christmas market in the city of Manchester. It had a superb flavour but Germany is well known for its large variety of salami and sausages.

This shows the completed Catalan Soup Recipe. It is good with chunky brown bread and a great winter warmer.

Ingredients

1.5 litres--3 pints of beef or vegetable stock--fresh or as stock cubes

2 large potatoes peeled and diced, 3 carrots peeled and diced, 1 turnip peeled and diced, 1 large onion peeled and diced, 2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped, 2 celery stalks washed and sliced, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 3 bay leaves, 2 tablespoons of basmati or long grain rice, 1/4 teaspoon of saffron--this can be left out if you do not have any, or a pinch of turmeric would add colour if you want it to look a golden colour. 7 ozs--3/4 cup of chorizo sausage chopped--see the photograph.

Method

Get out a large pan and bring the stock to the boil in it. Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, celery, turnip, bay leaves, salt and pepper, and bring it to the boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the rice, saffron and the chorizo sausage. Simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. Take out the bay leaves. Serve the soup .

Variations

Use a blender to blend half the soup and mix it with the rest to create a more textured full-bodied soup
Do you like casseroles, cupcakes, homemade chutney, pasta and salads? Check out the links for more recipes and ideas. Crazycupcakes.

BROCCOLI SOUP RECIPE

This is a really tasty thick soup that contains lots of broccoli which is full of vitamins and a good source of folic acid. It has lots of good dietary fibre and there are variations on the recipe.
Ingredients
2 onions chopped
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
2 heads of broccoli, cut into small pieces and the centre stalk can be peeled and the tender centre chopped
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced
4 sticks of celery washed and sliced
2 pints--1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock(see stock recipe)
1/2 pint--250ml of milk
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of thyme
butter or olive oil

Method
Put the butter or olive oil in a large pan and sweat, cook on a gentle heat with the lid on the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and add the broccoli, potatoes and celery. Stir and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the stock, salt, pepper and thyme. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes. Check the soup and stir. Liquidise the soup and add the milk.
Taste and season as required. Serve.

Garnish
The soup can be garnished with :
1. chopped celery leaves
2. chopped walnuts
3. a swirl of cream, natural yoghurt or creme fraiche
4. pieces of crumbled stilton, this is a strong English blue cheese
5. Lancashire cheese crumbled, this is a white cheese with a nice soft texture and a sharp and tangy flavour.

Variations
1. Use soy milk but do not boil.
2. Add tofu to the soup as a good protein garnish.
3. Leave out the milk to make it non-dairy.
4. Use a different herb such as sage.

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP RECIPE

Leek and Potato Soup Recipe

Ingredients

4 large leeks sliced and washed

3 medium potatoes, peeled, washed and diced

1 1/2 pints chicken or vegetable stock

2 0z butter or 2 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper

fresh herb of your choice

Method

Put olive oil in a pan or melt butter in the pan

Add leeks and potatoes, cook on low heat for 15 minutes with lid on the pan , called sweating the vegetables

Add the stock, salt and pepper, simmer for 20 minutes, until everything is soft

Liquidise half the soup and return to the pan

serve and sprinkle with herbs

Variations

1 Liquidise all the soup

2 Do not liquidise at all

3 Put in 1 pint of stock and 1/2 pint of milk

4 Add cream at the end of cooking

5 Serve with your favourite grated cheese

6 Make double and put in the freezer

Leek and Potato Soup Recipe

CELERY SOUP RECIPE

CELERY SOUP RECIPE
This is a delicious soup, thick in texture with a good flavour. It does not take long to make this soup recipe.
INGREDIENTS
A whole celery about 1 lb or 370gm--washed, sliced into thin pieces and the leaves reserved along with some of the really tender central stalks for garnish.
5oz --110gm --1 cup potatoes, washed, peeled and diced.
2 leeks washed and finely sliced.
1 1/2 --750ml--pints of stock, this can be from a vegetable or chicken stock cube or your own freshly made stock.
salt and pepper
1oz butter or 2 tablespoons of olive oil depending on your preference.
METHOD
Heat the butter or olive oil in a pan, add the celery, potatoes and leeks. Cook on a gentle heat. Stir until they are well mixed and coated. Put the lid on and let the vegetables sweat for 15 minutes on a lower heat. Check and stir to ensure that they do not brown or burn.
Add the stock, salt and pepper to taste, stir and simmer for 20 minutes.
At this point I liquidise the soup and return to the pan to reheat.
VARIATIONS
After liquidising you can add cream to the recipe so that you have Cream of Celery Soup Recipe or you could add about 1/4 pint of milk which would not be as rich.
To serve the soup add the celery garnish to the individual portions.

This shows the first stages of the celery soup recipes. The vegetables are sweating in the pan.

The celery soup is served with the garnish of celery leaves and the celery heart.

Enjoy