Chilled leek and courgette soup

In my house soups happen more by accident than by design – usually because I need to use up some vegetables before they go off. Having said that, on Friday I made gazpacho as the weather had been sweltering and a friend was coming for lunch so I planned to make that traditional cold Spanish…

Carrot and coriander soup

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…

Seafood chowder

The starting point for this recipe was my craving for the type of chowder I ate on my last big summer holiday, in 2019. This was a holiday of a lifetime whale watching trip on Vancouver Island with my son and daughter. We stayed in a gorgeous apartment in Victoria and nearly every other day…

Laksa

I made this soup as a first course for a family lunch way back in November but only now just writing it up just because I’ve been so busy. The day job has been frantic and I’ve also recently set up a handcrafted jewellery business (check out   http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArrowskyDesigns). This laksa soup was the first…

Gazpacho

This week the weather started to turn autumnal but only three weeks ago we were sweltering in record breaking temperatures over the Bank Holiday weekend. I was rushing around a lot of the time, helping my daughter move into her new flat, so I didn’t have time to do much cooking – and it was…

Slow roasted tomato and pepper soup

Here’s a very easy, spicy (and vegan) soup that’s perfect for these cold days of early spring. The slow roasting really helps build up the flavour which means you can use the cheaper tomatoes rather than the tastier vine ripened ones.  I served the soup with  crunchy rosemary croutons, made with my own sourdough bread…

Chicken and sweetcorn soup

Just under a year ago I blogged about my recipe for chicken soup, made with home made stock from a roasted anchovy spatchcock chicken.  This soup, which I made yesterday, is very similar – using my own chicken stock from a roast,  but using sweetcorn kernels scraped off four little corn cobs (bought over a…

Chilled watercress soup

The heatwave continues. It was around 30C yesterday so I took the day off and went to Brockwell Lido, a massive open air pool in Brockwell Park, Herne Hill (aka ‘Brixton Beach’). I love the lido – in this kind of heat I just want access to an outdoor pool and to feel like I’m…

Chicken soup

I made this chicken soup for yesterday’s lunch. I’m not working at the moment so can stay cosy and warm indoors if I like and only need to venture out in the cold if I need supplies or to go to the woods. I live five minutes’ walk from Selsdon Woods in Croydon and I…

Pea and mint soup with Parmesan crisp

This soup ticks all the ‘cheap, fresh and easy’ boxes. It’s also incredibly quick and can be made in less than 10 minutes. I always have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and a mass of mint growing in a pot in the garden – so I have everything I need to rustle up…

Minestrone

I’ve been working away for a few weeks recently, just coming home for long weekends. Before I started working away I tried to use up as much food as possible from the fridge, to avoid waste and save money on shopping. Like most people I know I often find myself throwing fresh food away and,…

Broccoli and Stilton soup

I was sitting up in bed on Saturday morning planning my week’s food shopping – reading through recipes online, as well as my cook books, while drinking cups of tea in the warm. I came across this article (How to make the perfect broccoli and Stilton soup by Felicity Cloake) so decided to add this soup…