country supper soup

Here is a delicious soup recipe I collected some time ago.  What I like about this recipe is that you can adapt the recipe depending on what vegetables and herbs you have on hand.

You can pre-cut the ingredients and just judge how much of everything you want.  I add less potatoes, onions and stock/water and usually add more garlic, herbs and other vegetables depending on what we have at the time. 

from: Australian Table Magazine, July 2007, pg 65

Serves 8
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

15g butter
4 medium potatoes, cut into large dice
2 medium onions, cut into large dice
2 medium carrots, cut into large dice
4 celery stalks, sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons plain flour
9 cups (2.25L) chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 thyme sprig
1 marjoram sprig
400g can cannellini beans, drained, rinsed
½ cup chopped parsley
grated parmesan, to serve

Method
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan on low heat.  Cook potato, onion, carrot, celery and garlic, covered, very gently for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. Season to taste and stir in flour.  Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring gently.

2. Add stock, bay leaf and herb sprigs, stirring until thickened slightly.  Add beans and simmer for another 10 minutes.

3. Ladle into warm soup bowls and top with chopped parsley, a grinding of pepper and parmesan, if you like, to serve. 

My notes:

I like to add in some soup mix grains, and lentils.  I pre-soak these in water for a couple of hours before adding them into the saucepan. 

I usually have a can of cannellini beans, soup mix and lentils in the pantry for times that require some warm, hearty soup. 

For little ones, you could remove a portion of the soup from the saucepan and blend.  For my flutterbug (who does not like vegies...shock horror, I strain a portion of the soup through a sieve and serve the broth to which I suprisingly received a thumbs up.  The broth is perfect to warm little tummies and runny noses.