To be able to prepare and serve a soup within half an hour you need stock pre made. You’ll never get a rich depth of flavour if you quickly make a soup sans stock, just using water for liquid. Not only is stock a secret flavour weapon, but in the case of chicken or beef stock, it’s a multi mineral shot to the system. A veritable nutrient dense power house, that means you will be satisfied and perky for hours to come, no problems. We make a batch of beef stock once a season and freeze in jars in 500ml lots, ready for home cookin’. The same goes for veggie and chicken stock, but I make those more often in smaller volume, as it’s the kind of thing I do when we’ve had a roast chook or I’ve done a big veggie juice and I use the left over fibres to make a quick stock with onion.
So, this soup was born because I couldn’t face leaving the house with my 2 year old when it was super rainy, and I was forced to be creative with what I had in the house – as we often all are! What I love about this recipe, is that it was 100% organic, took half an hour and cost altogether $12 to feed my family of 3, plus a big left over portion. Next time I shall double the recipe and freeze half. Always, always cook twice as much of a dish and freeze half, when you know it’s a recipe you love – Efficiency when trying to do the whole foods thing, is a must.
Cosy Purple People Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 red onion, rough chopped
- 1 tbsp unfragranced coconut oil or macadamia nut oil
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and skinned (everything will be blitzed, so no need to crush, just rough chop and pop in!)
- 1 large purple carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (Global Organics brand is the cheapest and BPA free. About Life has the tinned range for under $2 a tin!)
- 1 tin borlotti beans (Global Organics again… or kidney, black or lentil will do if that’s what you have in the cupboard!)
- 350 ml beef stock of excellent quality GRUB has a fab recipe of Sally Fallon’s, author of Nourishing Traditions, here.(veggie stock is fine if you’re a vegetarian or vegan)
- 1 zucchini
- 1/4 head head cauliflower ( or a couple of other veggies you need to use up. these are what i used for this soup, so that’s why i’ve specified them here)
- 5 sprigs thyme
- 6 parsley stalks + leaves
- 6 coriander stalks + leaves
- water to top all ingredients, once they’re in.
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp dulse flakes (optional) I put them in everything. sea veggies are powerhouses of nutrients and in our house, they’re known as ‘purple sprinkles
- 1 tsp turmeric paste (optional) i put it in everything as turmeric is such a powerful anti-inflammatory, anti disease weapon
Instructions
- Place the onion in a large saucepan or cast iron pot with the oil and soften. Add purple carrot, garlic and herbs and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add your tomatoes, beans, beef stock, dulse flakes, 1/2 teaspoon celtic seasalt and cauliflower and then top with water, so that the liquid is just above the solid ingredients. Cook on medium for 10 minutes. Add zucchini and simmer another 5 minutes. Add more salt if needed. Celtic sea salt is great for you and can be used liberally. Turn off the heat. Blitz with your tri blade or blender and add a touch of water if you find the texture too thick – personally I need that ‘stick to your ribs’ feeling with puréed soups, to feel really satisfied by them. Pour into bowls.
- I like texture when I’m serving a thick soup, otherwise it’s all same same and boring. So, to top the soup I crumble some good feta, finely chop some raw green beans, and coriander and place a good mélange in the middle of the bowl.
- You could also add a drizzle of yoghurt and olive oil or crème fraiche if you wanted to… croutons… it’s endless. Just up to you and what you love!
Enjoy!
