Winter vegetable soup

Matt Dobson: Chef

This recipe will make a great tasting soup but if you follow the same principles any root vegetables that need to be used will work really well.

Ingredients: serves 8

1 medium onion (diced)
1 medium butternut squash (skin and seeds removed and diced)
1 medium celeriac (diced)
1 small leek (chopped roughly)
1 medium turnip (diced)
5 sprigs thyme
100 g butter (margarine will work also)
3 bay leaves
salt
pepper
water
parsley (chopped, to garnish)

Method:

Place a good sized, thick bottomed sauce pan on a really low heat and add the butter. As the butter starts to melt add all of the diced vegetables and thyme.
Allow to cook away gently, stirring occasionally. Once all the vegetables are soft and beginning to break down, (this can take anything up to 60 minutes), add the bay leaves and cold water (just enough to cover) and turn up the heat slightly.
Bring the soup slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally, and allow to simmer for a further 10-15 minutes.
Take off the heat and carefully remove the thyme and bay leaves. Pour mixture into a food blender and blend till smooth.
Return to the heat and bring back to temperature, you may need to add a little boiling water if it is too thick. Season to taste, garnish with parsley and serve.

Recipe tips:

A great way to use up any left over vegetables during the winter, and save a few pennies, is by making a hearty winter soup. The good thing about a soup is that it can be easily portioned into air-tight plastic containers and chilled, if to be used within 2-3 days, or even frozen for up to three months. The slower you cook most root vegetables, the better they taste, the flavours always seem to intensify. This also applies to the soup so it may take a bit longer than expected but the result will be worth it.