Comforting winter soups: using up your store cupboard essentials

Making your own warming soup is a great way of using up basic store cupboard ingredients and/or leftovers. It’s a simple way of packing in some extra nutrition, too. All you need is a big saucepan and a blender or food mixer, and you’re ready to go. My recipes feed three/four hungry people and are great for freezing, too. I have used Sainsbury’s prices as an indication of the cost of each recipe. Measures are deliberately not precise – just use what you have.

Spicy lentil and tomato soup

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil (£1.30/500ml Olive Oil, Sunflower & Extra Virgin)
• 1 onion (chopped) for each recipe (loose onions 70p/kg)
• 2 red chillies (chopped) (50p/60g). If you only have green lentils, use those but allow longer to cook
• Garlic cloves, 1 or 2 per recipe, according to preference (basics garlic 35p/pack of two)
• Seasoning: salt, pepper
• 1 vegetable stock cube per recipe (65p for box of 10)
• Dried red lentils (£1.10/500g)
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes (30p/400g)
• Spoonful of soured cream or crème fraîche to serve (optional) (60p/150ml)

Method:

Begin by oiling the bottom of a large saucepan and heat. Add a chopped onion, two chopped red chillies, chopped garlic and seasoning. Crumble one stock cube to a pint of boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add to the pan. Stirring the ingredients, pour in a cup of dried red lentils. Simmer until the red lentils have softened. Empty the chopped tomatoes into the pan. Leave to cool then blitz in a blender. I like to leave the soup on the chunky side but you can keep going until it’s smooth, if you prefer. Reheat before serving, then add a generous dollop of soured cream on the top. This recipe works well with added chopped bacon or chorizo, too.

Sweetcorn and smoked paprika soup

Ingredients:

• Cooking oil
• 1 onion
• 1 or 2 garlic cloves
• Seasoning: salt, pepper
• 1 vegetable stock cube per recipe (65p for box of 10)
• 400g can of sweetcorn or leftover corn on the cobs (2 cans – 30p/200g each)
• A generous pinch of paprika – I prefer smoked as the flavour works so well (£1/44g) but use whatever you have

Method:

In your oiled saucepan, brown the chopped onion and add in the garlic and seasoning. Drain the sweetcorn and pour into the pan, followed by a vegetable stock cube dissolved in a pint of water. Simmer until sweetcorn is heated through. Whizz the cooled mixture until smooth in a blender, and serve with a good sprinkling of black pepper.

Comforting carrot and potato soup

A simple recipe for using up leftover potatoes and carrots after your Sunday roast.

Ingredients:

• 1 vegetable stock cube (65p for box of 10)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• Four large carrots (chopped) (60p/1kg)
• Two large potatoes (peeled and chopped) (60p/1kg)
• Seasoning: black pepper
• Crusty bread (optional extra)

Method:

If cooking from fresh, add a stock cube into a saucepan of water, pop in your chopped onion, four large chopped carrots and two large peeled and chopped potatoes and heat until the ingredients are soft. Purée in a blender and serve with plenty of black pepper and some crusty bread.