STEP 6. SOUPS

I love soups. I love them because it is essentially made of the best bits of whatever the ingredients used. It can be very nutritious and almost always so easy to eat. It's probably the only thing everyone can eat at any age - from a baby to an old person. Only problem is that it is often very expensive to make a good soup in a large quantity. Oh, well...

Mushroom Soup

Onion Soup

Mixed Vegetable Soup

In this version of a mushroom soup, you don't need to use a blender. So you can enjoy the nice texture of mushrooms you put in. You can use large or small mushrooms. I prefer large ones. You can use a spoon and running water to remove the dark bown bits under the mushroom cap. The basic procedure here is the one I saw on a language video during the time I was learning Russian.

When you're cooking an onion soup, it is a little bit like an endurance game. The first step is crucial for success. You need to cook these onion rings very very slowly over low heat. You also need to have a good beef stock. I once tried with chicken stock and it didn't work - obviously...

This mixed vegetable soup - basically some random root vegetables mixed up in a blender - is I think a winter soup. This soup has something similar in spirit with fried rice. You put whatever vegetable left in the fridge to make a soup.

Ingredients

(for upto 3 people)
MUSHROOMS
GARLIC
PARSLEY
TOAST BREAD
CHICKEN STOCK
BUTTER
SALT
PEPPER

 
1 kg
4 cloves
a bunch
1
1000 L
100 g
some
as much as you like

0 min.

5 min.


20 min.

22 min.


24 min.


120 min.

Slice mushrooms. Chop parsleys finely. Crush garlics.

Melt plenty of butter and put all the sliced mushrooms. Cook gently and slowly untill all the mushrooms turned soft and slightly brown.

Add the chopped parsleys and mix them up.

Crumble a toast bread and put it in the pan. Cook them for a few minutes.

Add chicken stock, black pepper and salt to the pan. You can also use water instead.

Adjust the seasoning and let it settle a bit, and serve.

Ingredients

(for upto 3 people)
ONION
GARLIC
FLOUR
BEEF STOCK
BUTTER
SALT
PEPPER

 
6 large size
4 cloves
2 spoonfuls
1000 L
100 g
a pinch
as much as you like

0 min.


10 min.


90 min.

180 min.

200 min.

Cut onions into rings. Crush garlic cloves. Melt plenty of butter in a sauce pan.

Add the onion and garlic to the pan and put the lid on. Cook very slowly at very low heat until all the onion rings are really soft.

Add some flour and mix. Everything will stick to your spatula...

Add beef stock and simmer gently at very low heat.

Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, let it settle a bit, and serve.

(There is a secret ingredient you can use to make it taste better. But, I can't tell you because it's secret. Find out yourself!)

Ingredients

(for upto 3 people)
ONION
GARLIC
CARROT
PARSNIP
POTATO
LEEK
STOCK or WATER
BUTTER
CREAM
SALT
PEPPER

 
1 medium size
2 cloves
2
2
2
1/2 small size
250 ml
25 g
single / double
a pinch
as much as you like

0 min.


10 min.


15 min.


30 min.


32 min.

35 min.

Cut onions and garlics into fine pieces. Cut all the other vegetables into small dice.

Melt some butter in a sauce pan. Add the onion and garlic. When they are soft, add the rest of the vegetables.

Add vegetable / chicken stock or water to the pan, and simmer the mixture.

When all the vegetables are soft. Make a smooth soup by using a blender.

Season the soup with salt and pepper.

Add some (double or single) cream, mix and serve.