Seasonal Soups

As if Christmas dinner couldn’t get any bigger, most of us insist on a starter before the main event. Why not? It’s Christmas. Classic choices include Chicken Liver Parfait and Prawn Cocktail but my family often go for soup.

Soup is the easiest choice for a Christmas Day starter; it’s simple, it doesn’t involve any hob hovering, it can be cheap, it’s easy to make vegetarian and it can be made in advance, a day or two before, and heated up last minute. Ease and speed, however, are not the only reasons to choose it. Hot soups are a great way to line the stomach on one of the booziest days of the year, without being so filling that you don’t enjoy your Turkey and the flavour combinations are endless.

So in this post I have taken some classic British soups and given them a seasonal spin. Adding some festive flare to your starter will set the right tone for the rest of the meal!

All recipes are to serve 4.

• Carrot & Coriander *with Orange & Cinnamon*

Sweat 1 large onion, finely chopped, in a little butter or oil in a large pan. Add 2 cloves of garlic. Place in 4 large, peeled carrots, chopped into small chunks along with 1 tbsp ground coriander and 1 tsp cinnamon. Add 2 vegetable or chicken stock cubes and 1l boiling water. Add the zest of 1 clementine or small orange, a splash of lemon juice and simmer everything until the carrots are tender. Add a big handful of roughly chopped coriander and 50ml cream. Blend until smooth with a hand blender or liquidiser. Taste for salt and pepper.

• Cream of mushroom *with Sage & Chestnuts*

Chop 300g chestnut mushrooms in small chunks (think tinned mushroom soup size). Sweat these down in a large pan with a little butter or oil. Once cooked, place in a bowl. Sweat 1 large onion and 3 garlic gloves, chopped, in the same pan. Add back 2/3 of the mushrooms to the onions along with 6-7 fresh sage leaves, chopped. Sweat for a minute or two and add 8 cooked, chopped chestnuts (often sold by supermarkets). Add 2 vegetable stop cubes, 1l water and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 150ml of double cream and blend until smooth with a hand blender or liquidiser. Taste for salt and pepper.

• Roasted Parsnip *with Apple & Mustard*

Preheat an oven to 190C. Peel 4 large parsnips and chop in rounds. Place on a baking tray with a drizzle of oil and some salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown and soft. While this is happening, sweat 1 large onion and 1 clove of garlic in a large pan. Peel, core and chop 2 medium cooking apples and add to the pan along with the parsnips. Add 2 stock cubes and 1l water. Simmer until the apples are tender and add 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard with 50ml cream or milk. Blend until smooth with a hand blender or liquidiser. Taste for salt and pepper.

My favourite is the mushroom with chestnuts and sage. We nearly always do it in my house; the sage adds an almost meatiness and is just so Christmassy it would be criminal not to use it.

So please, go ahead a try soups this Christmas 🙂