Vegetable soups
As I write this post, we are slowly slipping into winter, and this late autumn is the perfect time for soups, especially vegetable ones. Soups, that somewhat "soft" dish, often associated with our childhood, infallible remedy against a cold evening or an ugly weather, or both.
9,456 5/5 (18 reviews)
Last modified on: December 5th 2017
Vegetable soups
What exactly is a vegetable soup? Let's just say: Water, in which vegetables are cooked long enough to mix with the water. That's the principle of course, after that it can be made in an infinite number of ways by changing the liquid (water, milk, broth, juice,...) and all the vegetables you can put in it, it's a recipe that's almost as old as humanity, and fire, and yes, pottery too.
It's very easy to make: a pan, you pour water, you add peeled vegetables, you salt a little and you cook for a long time. A small modern concession, a little shot of mixer at the end of cooking to obtain a smooth soup and hey presto, it's ready.
Let's put this into practice with the leek and potato soup, one of the pillars of French home cooking:
- Leeks are washed, peeled and sliced
- Potatoes are peeled, washed and cut into small pieces
- Put everything in a large saucepan, cover with water and salt
- Cook, mix if necessary, and it's ready
Is that all? No, not quite, because it is possible to improve this method considerably by working the vegetables a little before adding the water. Let's start again:
- Wash, peel and slice leeks
- Peel, wash and chop potatoes
This is where it changes
- In the pot where the soup will be cooked, heat a little olive oil (or butter) over high heat
- Add a chopped onion and fry for 1 minute
- Add leek and potatoes to the pan, salt, pepper, and stir well, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes
- Then add the water and cook.
This little change is the trick that does it all: Frying the vegetables together, with the onion and a little oil/butter, before putting in the water, will give them a taste and depth that will be much better than vegetables simply added to the future soup water. This goes for all soups, to all vegetables.
To sum up: Always fry the vegetables in a future soup for a few minutes with each other, the taste will be much better.
It's very easy to make: a pan, you pour water, you add peeled vegetables, you salt a little and you cook for a long time. A small modern concession, a little shot of mixer at the end of cooking to obtain a smooth soup and hey presto, it's ready.
Let's put this into practice with the leek and potato soup, one of the pillars of French home cooking:
- Leeks are washed, peeled and sliced
- Potatoes are peeled, washed and cut into small pieces
- Put everything in a large saucepan, cover with water and salt
- Cook, mix if necessary, and it's ready
Is that all? No, not quite, because it is possible to improve this method considerably by working the vegetables a little before adding the water. Let's start again:
- Wash, peel and slice leeks
- Peel, wash and chop potatoes
This is where it changes
- In the pot where the soup will be cooked, heat a little olive oil (or butter) over high heat
- Add a chopped onion and fry for 1 minute
- Add leek and potatoes to the pan, salt, pepper, and stir well, and cook for 3 or 4 minutes
- Then add the water and cook.
This little change is the trick that does it all: Frying the vegetables together, with the onion and a little oil/butter, before putting in the water, will give them a taste and depth that will be much better than vegetables simply added to the future soup water. This goes for all soups, to all vegetables.
To sum up: Always fry the vegetables in a future soup for a few minutes with each other, the taste will be much better.
Lasts posts
Cake moulds
When we make a cake, or a cake of the same rectangular shape, we usually take out our usual mould and tell ourselves that the recipe is anyway "for a cake", but is it really that simple?August 25th 20255945
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20251,1725
Add a bay leaf
Bay leaf: small in size, but big in flavor. You'll find it in hundreds of recipes, and it's often added to cooking meat, in a sauce or broth, usually accompanied by other herbs or products. It's a staple of Provençal, Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, but not the only one. Usually, in a...July 31th 20251,2575
Parsley stems
Parsley, whether curly or flat, is a delicious ingredient in many recipes, where it is used both raw and cooked. When used raw, in a salad for example, where it always provides, alone or with other herbs, a remarkable freshness, only the leaves are kept. And when used cooked?July 28th 20251,346 13
A drizzle of olive oil
Often in a recipe, you have to "baste" vegetables, for example, before sending them to the oven. What the author means by this is that you need to put oil on top of the vegetables to cook them in the oven. Typically, we just quickly drizzle oil over the vegetables, hoping not to miss any, but...July 13th 20251,5395
Other pages you may also like
Thinning out herbs
If you need to add a long-stemmed herb (tarragon, mint, verbena, thyme, etc.) to a recipe, you'll probably only need the leaves and not the stem, so you'll need to remove the leaves. Leaf removal means keeping only the beautiful leaves, and eliminating the ugly stems and leaves, but how do you do...August 8th 20251,1725
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021141 K4.5
Maillard reactions
This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...January 28th 201535 K4
The delicious complexity of Jura wines
Do you know the wines of the Jura? Maybe not, it's a small appellation, 2000 hectares, with a production of wines that are both very atypical and very typical, even unique for some of them. Let me tell you a few words about it.May 14th 202211 K4.9
Fruits which can ruin your jelly
There are many ways of making a fruit mousse, but one of the simplest is to prepare a fruit jelly (basically a fresh fruit coulis with gelatine) and then mix this jelly before it sets completely with whipped cream. The result is perfect for filling a charlotte, for example. But do beware;...March 6th 201375 K4.0
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.