Note: This is a chunky vegetable soup and you can omit or add vegetables to suit your taste.  You can replace the potatoes for sweet potatoes for a sweeter tasting soup.  Leeks and winter cabbage also work well.

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage cut into quarters
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
2 celery stalks, finely sliced
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
7 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 zucchinis, diced
2 cups of cauliflower florets
2 fresh tomatoes, seeded and diced
Salt and black pepper
Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

Instructions:

Slice the cabbage quarters into thin strips.  Heat the oil in a large soup pan and add the cabbage, carrots, celery and parsnips cook over low heat for approximately 10 minutes, stir often so vegetables don’t stick to pan. (you may need to add a tablespoon of stock).

Stir in the stock and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes, zucchinis, cauliflower and tomatoes with a little chopped fresh parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Bring back to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low.  Simmer for approximately 15 to 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Serve into warm soup bowls and garnish with a little chopped fresh parsley.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thick rounds
1 large parsnip, peeled and cubed
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 onion, peeled and quartered
2 bay leaves
4 thyme sprigs or 1 teaspoons dried thyme
3 rosemary sprigs or 2/3 teaspoons dried rosemary
5 cups vegetable stock
Salt and ground black pepper
Crème fraiche or sour cream to serve

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Pour the olive oil into a large bowl and add the vegetables, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss well until coated in oil.  Place the vegetables on a non stick tray in a single layer.  Roast the vegetables in preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes or until tender.  Turn them occasionally to ensure they brown evenly.

Remove from oven, discard herbs and transfer vegetables to a large pan.  Pour the stock over the vegetables and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 10 minutes.  Remove soup from heat and leave to slightly cool.  Transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Return soup to pan and gently heat through. Serve into warm bowls and garnish with a swirl of sour cream or crème fraiche.

You can make this soup without roasting the peppers to save time but the roasting process gives the soup a rich, excellent flavor, worth the time.

Ingredients:

3 red bell peppers, washed and deseeded
1 yellow bell pepper
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 cups of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon plain all-purpose flour
Salt and black pepper to taste
Diced red and yellow bell pepper pieces to garnish
Plain yogurt or crème fraiche to garnish

Preheat the grill.  Wash and cut the peppers in half and remove stalks, core and seeds.  Arrange the peppers in a non stick baking tray (skin side up) and place under the hot grill.  Grill for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until skins begin to char.

Transfer the peppers to a plastic or zip lock bag, seal and leave to cool.  Once cool (about 15 minutes) peel skins and discard.  Roughly chop the remaining pepper flesh and set aside.

Place the onion, crushed garlic and 2/3 of the vegetable stock in a pan.  Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until stock begins to reduce.  Sprinkle the flour into the pan and stir to reduce lumping.  Add the chopped peppers and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes.

Let soup cool slightly and the transfer to a food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth.  Transfer soup back to pan and reheat gently, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve in warm bowls and sprinkle a few chopped peppers and a little yogurt in the center of each bowl if desired.

Note: You should be able to find most of these ingredients in a health food shop or specialty section in your supermarket.  You can substitute the bok choy with any Asian greens.  Dashi is available in powdered form in many health food stores or Asian stores.  If you don’t have Dashi you can use vegetable stock in its place.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of spring onions (scallions)
A large handful of chopped fresh cilantro
3 thin slices of fresh root ginger (or ½ teaspoon dried ginger)
1 small red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced (optional)
5 cups of dashi or vegetable stock.
1 cup of bok choy (also known as pak choi), thinly sliced
1 cup firm tofu cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons red miso
2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce (also known as shoyu)

Instructions:

Cut the green tops off the spring onions and thinly slice the rest.  Place the coarse green tops in a large pan along with the cilantro stalks, ginger, dried chilli and dashi or vegetable stock.  Heat the mixture gently until it comes to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Strain through a sieve and return clear broth to pan. Reheat until simmering.

Add the green portions of the sliced spring onions, with the chopped pak choi and tofu.  Cook over low heat for 2 minutes. In a separate bowl mix 3 tablespoons of miso with a little hot broth in a bowl and stir into the soup.  Add additional miso and soy sauce to taste.

Stir the coarsely chopped cilantro leaves into pan and along with the white part of the spring onions.  Cook gently for 1 minute and serve into warm bowls.  Sprinkle with thinly sliced chilli if using.