Kitchen Garden Forum

I love home made soups they beat tin ones hands down .today I cut all the sprouting bits from the broccoli the ones that normally go to seed , I filled a small plastic bag to the top with them the bag you get when you buy a pie around eight inches square when flat , I also pulled two small Leaks ,I chopped the leeks as well as crushing three garlic cloves with a chopped red pepper I lightly fried them all in a pan with a bit of olive oil ,when lightly brown I added the broccoli as well as four diced potatoes one large one three the size of a tennis ball I added around four pints of water and two chicken stock pots then attacked it with the stick liquidiser I added a teaspoon of ground black pepper and salt to taste ,it tastes lovely all from our plot

Robo, exactly to my taste! I make a large pot of soup, very similar to yours, every Sunday which lasts until the following weekend. The ingredients depend on what's on offer in the garden/allotment at the time. In the family it has been known for years as mother's "European summer soup" and "European winter soup". The winter version always includes red lentils because they thicken it and make it more filling and the summer version will have a lot of chopped herbs as well.

Monica I put red lentils in a lot of soups depending on what I'm making I have never used them for thickening I usually use potatoes for that , I might throw a hand full in this pan as they can't do any harm

I take soup to work mostly daily summer & winter, although to be fair some are more stew like if I only blitz 1/2 down and add left over roast meats, pasta or lentils. Every Saturday I check the stored or fresh veg & what's in the fridge. Everything that is a bit floppy & not going to make it through the week to be a side or salad goes into one or the other. I make the traditional soups, to use some things, then the melody of soups which are dictated by whether a tomato base, a starchy base, what herbs look good in the pots & can it stand a little heat.

I have stopped making courgette soups btw but still throw little chopped bits in some other flavoured soup & have a few bags of grated flesh in the freezer for when I want to taste summer in the depths of winter. I've had my fill of them, but they are still producing - fortunately I have found a health freak who likes them in her smoothies as not a strong taste but loads of juice! Takes them any size or colour, wish I'd found her years ago!

Apart from the chicken stock,sounds gredt. Just surprised that you added as much as four pints

It's a big pan Stephen, this might be my last pan of broccoli soup unless I can manage to get another bag full ,the broccoli has been fantastic this year but coming to the end , I may try onion soup next but if this cold weather stays I will probably go for ham and lentil