This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
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.
12 K 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
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20267335
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20269545
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20253,0245
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,9675
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,788
Other pages you may also like
Don't throw away disposable piping bags
Nowadays, it's fairly easy to find what professionals use as piping bags, i.e. disposable or "single-use" plastic ones. They're practical, functional and inexpensive, but disposable? That's debatable...May 28th 20249,5975
Raising (or leavening) agents
When we want to make a dough or batter rise when baking, either in patisserie or bread-making, we need to use a raising agent or leavening agent, one of which is called leaven. In the context of baking, a raising agent is simply what "makes something rise". It is a substance which, when added to...June 16th 202158 K4.8
Rosemary in recipes
Rosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb, one of the famous French "herbes de Provence", and is very effective in bringing a real taste of the Mediterranean to any dish. The classic way to use it in a recipe is to add a sprig or two and leave it in during cooking as a way of...April 18th 201824 K4.7
Let's go easy on the salt
In terms of cooking, I'm probably not teaching you much, salt is ubiquitous, we put it in almost all our dishes, in varying amounts depending on our taste, some like salty, others less, others still not. Its main role is the flavor, the taste, we say that it is a flavor enhancer, ie it reveals the...February 20th 20219,0564.8
Preservative oil, an asset for taste
When you prepare a dish using an ingredient that has been preserved in fat, for example a springtime mixed salad with tuna in oil or sun-dried tomatoes, you're probably going to make a french dressing (vinaigrette) next. In that case, why not use the preserved oil from the tuna or tomatoes?June 5th 20248,2135
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.