Carrot and coriander are two ingredients I always have in my fridge and often need using up. This soup is so easy, quick and dead cheap (and it’s vegan too). It has been a godsend recently when I was running out of ideas for lunch and didn’t want to go to the shop (trying to minimise my lockdown shopping trips). You don’t need stock for this – in fact I hardly ever use stock for soups, water is enough (and Raymond Blanc agrees with me).

I often make croutons for soup. Any bread will do but the other day I used a bagel which I roughly cut up, spread out on a greaseproof lined oven tray, sprinkled with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper and baked in the oven at 180C for about five minutes. Sometimes my croutons are really hard but the bagel one stayed soft in the middle.

These quantities are approximate but make enough four portions.

Ingredients

• About 6 carrots, washed and chopped
• 1 medium potato or 2 small potatoes
• 2 shallots or an onion, chopped
• Large bunch of coriander, chopped (stalks and all)
• A kettle’s worth of boiling water
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and sweat the shallots for a few minutes before adding the carrots and potatoes. Cook, stirring, for a minute or two then add the coriander.
2. Add the water, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
3. Blend with a stick blender and adjust the seasoning.