Cheap, quick soup

[glenniedragon]

I was reading a neighbours old war-time cookery book and came across a great easy soup recipe-

Take your veg, any veg thats ready or needs using up
I use
2 carrots
an onion
a potato
anything else, turnip is nice, swede is good too

Grate everything up, stick in a saucepan- add a litre of stock or marmite +boiling water, a pinch of salt and boil for 20 min. At the end add a splash of milk and stir well, I also use a hand blender a bit as my offspring are a bit fussy over lumpy soup, but you dont need to. I've also added a couple of spoonfuls of soup mix sometimes and that makes it really filling!
The above feeds the 4 of us easily!

kind thoughts
Deb

[Andy Hamilton]

My girlfriend keeps trying to save the scraps of vegetables to make a soup and I keep composting them.

I like the idea of using marmite although could it make it a bit too salty?

[wulf]

The saltiness depends on how much marmite you use. A fairly weak solution would probably be about right, so the saltiness enhances rather than overpowers the flavour of the vegetables. If you do go for marmite, you probably don't need to add extra salt.

Wulf

[hedgewitch]

Sounds great!
I love making soup, I get a real sense of satisfaction in doing so. I put a spoonful of Marmite in practically everything I cook:stews, soups, pasta sauces, shepherds pie, vegetable pie, paté etc etc.
I don't find it salty at all.

[glenniedragon]

The war-time book from my neighbour had loads of really useful things in it, how to use up odds and ends- in those days they called it thrift, but when you think about it we 'enlinghtened' (LOL) few are living by much the same standards- we buy local, we grow as much as we can, compost that which is left over and reuse packaging, clothes, paper etc. as much as possible. Maybe if we ever find ourselves in the same circumstances (god forbid) maybe those detractors out there will be banging on our doors begging for us to share our knowledge!
on that dark note.......

kind thoughts
Deb

[Andy Hamilton]

Perhaps it would not have to war time again for this to take effect I am sure a global depression would get us all being thrify.

[Millymollymandy]

I made tons of soup along these lines last summer, mostly based on courgettes (!!), added an onion, couple of spuds and maybe a carrot or two. However I used a few teaspoons of curry powder rather than the marmite and some veggie stock. But I might give marmite a go this year.

[glenniedragon]

Can you get marmite in france or do they have their own continental version?

[Millymollymandy]

Yes, you can buy it at silly prices on the 'English' shelves in the larger supermarkets. As far as I know there is no continental version though!

[glenniedragon]

It's funny whats considered 'speciality', we have a friend in Aus who has a dizzy fit for Branston pickle when he comes over each summer!, oh and pork pies (yeuch) we have told him what they put in them, but it doesn't put him off!

Is it worth having it (marmite) posted out to you or is it subject to some strange customs Tax?
kind thoughts
Deb

[Millymollymandy]

lol - can just imagine French customs people dipping their fingers in a pot of Marmite and the funny looks on their faces!

I get lots of stuff brought over by friends and family so don't really want for much, I just have to consider things like baked beans as a gourmet treat to go with the English sausages!!!

There are always loads of arguements on the French forums because some people think that one should eat only French food in France - but hey, it's what we are brought up with and so many of our recipes call for things like golden syrup, digestive biccies, soft dark brown sugar, etc etc.

I take no notice of them and eat/cook what I like!

[ina]

I often end up with "fusion" food - German origin, British ingredients (if I can't get the original stuff at a reasonable price)... Yes, there are a few things that I still haven't got used to: I like neither English nor French mustard, so I buy the German mustard from a fairly local shop! No more expensive, either. And they have German horseradish sauce, too - it's much more pungent than the British equivalent, and more suitable for what I use it in (cooked beetroot salad mostly).

That soup recipe above is what my friend calls "cupboard soup" - whatever happens to be in the cupboard goes in! And it always tastes nice.

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

I've never even heard of German mustard! As for horseradish, I like the French version as it blows the top of your head off!!!

[alcina]

Clearly mustard is a majorly nationalistic thing. My cousin lives in Finland and we send him English mustard because he can't get it there. In return he sends me Finish mustard (though I actually think it's made in Sweden...not that my Finish or Swedish is good enough to read the label!) which I had with sausages at his wedding and fell in love with! Finish/Swedish mustard is similar to German mustard but slightly sweeter. Each to his own!

Alcina

[Shirley]

re the marmite thing... is vegemite the same thing... or not??