Thai beetroot soup
Super-easy to make, this delicious, healthy soup looks stunning and marries the earthy sweetness of beetroot with the light aromatics of Thai flavours.
Serves 4
500g cooked beetroot (not pickled), roughly chopped
400ml tin light coconut milk
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
Juice of 1-2 limes
½ tsp salt
For the stock
4 shallots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
4 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and chopped
2 x 3cm pieces galangal, finely sliced
2 thumb-size pieces of root ginger, grated
6 makrut lime leaves, shredded
1 tbsp vegetable oil
650ml cold water
50g coriander, stalks and leaves chopped (reserve a few leaves for garnishing)
1 bird's-eye chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1 In a large pan, fry the shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, root ginger and makrut lime leaves in vegetable oil for 3-4 minutes to release their flavour.
2 Add the water and the rest of the stock ingredients. For more heat, add a few chilli seeds to the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes before straining and discarding the solids.
3 Put the stock back into the pan, add the chopped beetroot and bring back to a simmer for 5-10 minutes. Blitz with a stick blender, then add the coconut milk and bring the pan back to a simmer again.
4 Add fish sauce, salt and lime juice to taste: the soup should taste sharp and sweet. Serve with the reserved whole coriander leaves.
Mexican green soup
Mexican green soup from Stevie Parle's Dock Kitchen Cookbook. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura for the Guardian
This is a kind of sopa de tortilla. It's usually based on a tomato broth, but this one has loads of greens. Just use what you can get – you want a good mixture. You can get dried Mexican herbs from coolchile.co.uk
Serves 6
2 small red onions, roughly chopped
1 small heart of celery with leaves, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Large pinch of dried oregano
1 tsp ground allspice
2 green chillies
Olive oil
2 litres chicken stock
1kg greens (chard, spinach, borage, nettles, fenugreek), shredded into ribbons
Corn oil, to deep-fry
6 small corn tortillas, cut into 1cm strips
1 avocado, diced
250g fresh ricotta or cottage cheese
Lime wedges, to serve
1 Fry the onions, celery, garlic, oregano, allspice and whole green chillies in a large, heavy-based pan with a good glug of olive oil. Fry for about 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, then add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
2 Once the broth is boiling, add all the shredded greens. Boil fast for about 5 minutes.
3 Meanwhile, heat a medium pan with a 2½cm depth of corn oil until almost smoking hot. Fry the tortillas quickly until crisp, then put on a plate lined with kitchen paper.
4 Spoon the greens and broth into the bowls and top with the avocado, cheese and the fried tortillas. Serve with wedges of lime.
Mushroom and almond with fino
The "flor" (yeast) that lives with fino in the barrel gives the sherry much of its musty character and complements mushrooms wonderfully. The almonds in this recipe give richness and texture to the soup.
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¾ tsp fresh thyme leaves
250g mushrooms (flat field or a mix of field and wild, eg chanterelles or pied de mouton), finely chopped
1 litre chicken stock or water
5 tbsp fino sherry
1½ dessert spoons dried porcini mushrooms, covered with boiling water to infuse
130g blanched almonds, lightly toasted
1 small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper
1 Heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat. Gently fry the onion and garlic for 15-20 minutes until golden and sweet, stirring every now and then.
2 Add the thyme and fresh mushrooms and cook for another 15 minutes until the moisture in the mushrooms has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper.
3 Add the stock or water, fino and chopped dried porcini and their juice to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
4 Pound the almonds in small batches in a pestle and mortar or blender until as fine as possible. Stir the almonds and parsley into the soup, taste for seasoning once more, and serve.
• Moro The Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark (Ebury Press)
Carrot and lemon
This spritely soup brings a suggestion of summer to a wintry table. The lemon and coriander give this otherwise robust soup a bit of a lift, while the lentils give it the body and depth you need at this time of year.
Serves 4
25g butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 leek, halved and sliced
300g carrots, peeled and sliced
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 litre vegetable stock or light chicken stock
100g split red lentils
A handful of coriander
Sea salt
1 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and add the oil. Gently saute the leek, carrots and lemon zest in the butter and oil for 15-20 minutes or until soft.
2 Add the stock and lentils, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
3 Add half the coriander. Puree, then season with sea salt and add the lemon juice to taste. Serve with a final sprinkling of coriander.
Chestnut and chorizo
The chestnut and chorizo soup from Sam and Sam Clarke's Moro The Cookbook. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura for the Guardian
This warm soup combines some of the classic flavours of Spanish cooking to produce a comforting and mildly spicy end result.
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
120g mild cooking chorizo, cut into 1cm cubes
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
2 small dried red chillies, crushed
2 tomatoes, fresh or tinned, roughly chopped
500g cooked peeled chestnuts (fresh or vacuum-packed), roughly chopped
20 saffron threads, infused in 3-4 tbsp boiling water
1 litre water
Salt and black pepper
1 In a large saucepan heat the oil over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, chorizo and a pinch of salt and fry for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything caramelises and turns brown.
2 Now add the garlic, cumin, thyme and chilli and cook for 1 more minute, followed by the tomatoes and, after about 2 minutes, the chestnuts.
3 Give everything a good stir, then add the saffron-infused liquid, and the water, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4 Remove from the heat and mash until almost smooth but still with a bit of texture. Season with salt and pepper.
• Moro The Cookbook by Sam and Sam Clark (Ebury Press)
Chicken, orzo and minted pea broth
Orzo, giant couscous or even macaroni all work for this recipe. Add a handful or two of frozen petit pois with leftover meat (save the roast chicken bones for a lovely stock) and you'll have yourself a perfectly light and healthy supper. Frozen herbs work just as well as fresh.
Serves 4
750ml chicken stock
50g orzo pasta
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
100g cooked roast chicken, shredded
100g frozen peas
4 spring onions, finely chopped
30g fresh mint
1 Pour the chicken stock into a large saucepan and put over a high heat. Once boiling, add the orzo, garlic and celery. Allow this to cook for 10-12 minutes or until the pasta is completely cooked.
2 Add the shredded chicken, peas and spring onions. Heat through before adding the mint.
3 Serve with crusty bread or a mixed salad.
Celery, apple and cashew
Celery and apples are classic partners. The addition of cashews and celeriac (a relative of celery) before blending makes this a smooth, thick and creamy soup.
Serves 6
3 tbsp butter
3 medium-size onions or 3 medium-size leeks, roughly chopped
4 large celery sticks, sliced
6 medium-size eating apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1¼ tsp dried thyme or 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
1 small celeriac, peeled (about 220g)
2 litres beef, chicken or vegetable stock
120g cashew nuts (pre-soaked for 2 hours, then drained and rinsed)
3 large handfuls of parsley, chopped
Salt and black pepper
To garnish
1 small handful of walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
A handful of parsley and celery leaves, chopped
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
1 Toast the walnuts in a large saucepan and set them aside to cool.
2 Place the butter in the pan on a medium heat, then add onions or leeks and celery and let them sweat for 8 minutes until soft. Add the apples, garlic and thyme, and sweat for a further 5 minutes.
3 Chop the celeriac roughly into 2cm dice.
4 Add the chopped celeriac and the stock to the pan, then bring to the boil and then simmer on a medium heat for 12-15 minutes until the celeriac is tender. Remove from the heat and add the rinsed cashew nuts and most of the parsley.
5 Blend the soup, in batches if you need to, then return to the pan on a low simmer. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the toasted walnuts, chopped fresh parsley, celery leaves and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
White bean well-dressed soup
The creaminess of this big, energising soup comes from the beans and adding wholemilk or Greek yoghurt at the end of cooking, which also gives the soup a refreshing, citrus taste. Onion, garlic and one of a number of green vegetables are added to lighten the floury texture of the beans.
"Well-dressed" means it has a number of guises and can be many different soups, depending on what you add from the list of embellishments below.
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped, or choose from: 2 celery sticks, sliced; 2 leeks, sliced; half a cucumber, seeds removed and thickly sliced; 3-4 medium turnips, including green tops, sliced
2 x 400g can white haricot beans or cannellini beans
900ml water or stock
Salt and white pepper
400ml Greek-style yoghurt
To garnish
Slices of ciabatta, baguette or other open-textured bread, fried in olive oil until golden
Melted butter, with chopped garlic
Red chilli, the seeds removed, then sliced
Crisp sauteed bacon or pancetta, chopped
Pesto sauce
Black olive tapenade
Roasted red peppers
Flakes of raw, undyed smoked haddock
1 Put the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and fennel or other green vegetable and cook until transparent and fragrant, but not coloured.
2 Add the beans with their liquid, then the water or stock. Bring to the boil and then cook for about 10 minutes until the beans and vegetables are soft.
3 Transfer all to a food processor or liquidiser and blend until smooth. Season to taste.
4 Reheat until almost boiling, add the yoghurt and reheat again until nearly boiling.
5 Remove from the heat. Ladle into bowls and add one or two of the extras from the list.
Cauliflower, almond and turmeric
Cauliflower, almond and turmeric from Allegra McEvedy's Leon. Photograph: Yuki Sugiura for the Guardian
This is Leon's winter version of the great Spanish cold summer soup of almonds and garlic called ajo blanco. The creaminess of the almonds is backed by that of the cauliflower when it has been softened and pureed. This should have the consistency of satin.
Serves 4-5
1 large cauliflower (about 1.5kg)
50g butter
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground (or whole) fenugreek
½ tsp ground ginger
70g ground almonds
1 litre vegetable stock
600ml full-fat milk
To garnish
A small handful of whole almonds, skin on, slightly crushed
Lemon wedges
Salt and black pepper
1 Cut the cauliflower florets off the central trunk and very roughly chop them. Quarter the trunk and slice that too.
2 Melt the butter in a pan, add the onion, garlic, turmeric, fenugreek, ground ginger and sliced cauliflower stalk, and cook until the onion begins to soften.
3 Stir in the ground almonds, making sure everything is well coated, then pour the stock on top.
4 Simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the cauliflower florets – the cauliflower may not all be covered at first but as it begins to cook, stir occasionally and it will all get there. Simmer for a further 20-25 minutes, until all the cauliflower bits are very tender but not mushy – check that the stalks are soft, too.
5 Stir in the milk and blitz until completely smooth. Top it off with some crushed whole (or flaked) almonds, and serve with a wedge of lemon on the side for a bit of last-minute freshness.
Mushroom broth with sausage, oats and parsley
This soup, dedicated to the revival of mushroom eating, needs lean sausages such as cumberland; very bready, smooth-textured bangers will turn to mush. If you live near an Italian deli, their meaty sausages are ideal. Otherwise a few chunks of a smoked German-style sausage would be good.
Serves 4
4 tbsp olive oil or 1½ tbsp of butter
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tbsp whole oat groats or pearled grain (barley, spelt or durum wheat)
4 lean sausages or smoked sausages, cut into bite-size pieces
450g shiitake mushrooms (or any type of cultivated mushroom), chopped
1 litre fresh stock
Salt and black pepper
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, to serve
1 Heat the oil or butter in a large pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat until soft but not coloured, then add the grains and sausage.
2 Fry for 1 minute longer, stirring, then add the mushrooms. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring, then add the stock.
3 Cook for 20 minutes, until the grains are just tender. Taste and add salt if necessary, then add pepper. Serve with chopped parsley.
