Thick and creamy soup

The Lovely Muffin

Hi,

I'm on the hunt for a nice, simple recipe for a thick and creamy chicken and vegetable soup and also a plain vegetable soup.

I'd like something that will look like this and will taste nice. I also don't want chunks of vegetable or chicken, I'd prefer if everything was smooth.

I don't have a blender, but do have a liquidiser and a hand mixer, so they are the only things I have to really blend/liquidise ingredients.

Can anyone post or recommend any recipes please?

Thanks.

okiss

This is how I make soup
For a veg soup
6 or 7 carrots, 2 onions, 1 or 2 leeks, 1 or 2 potatoes and some celery if you have it and 2 cloves of garlic, 1 veg or chicken stock cube along with a small amount of butter.

1. Chop up garlic and onions. 2. Chop up all other veg as small as possible.
4. Melt butter in sauspan and add garlic and then add onion, stir this to get butter on the onion, then stir in all the other veg.
Turn heat down to one and put lid on sauspan. This helps the taste of the soup. Make up a stock cube with enough water to cover your veg, bring to the boil and turn heat down till veg is cooked. When this is cooked place in your liquidzer and mix till smooth. If this to thick just add water when you put in back in the sauspan. If you have a packet of veg or chicken and veg soup you can add 2 or 3 desert spoon of soup mixed in water to this. Just stir this in and bring your soup to the boil again.
I would chop up some chicken breasts small in this and add to the veg before putting in the stock as your liquidzer will brake them up once cooked.
If you don't want to use packet soup you could add another potato which will naturally thicken this soup.
You can buy a hand blender under the tesco value brand for apox €7.00

Morag

I'd suggest cutting everything up very small before adding to the pot and then putting it through a sieve when it's cooked and then adding cream when you re heat it..

Susie_Q

Melt some butter in a pan. Add a chopped onion and cook on a low heat until soft. Add whatever veg you like - include a bit of potato for its thickening agent.

Cover in chicken/ veg stock (the less stock you use, the thicker the soup will be) and cook with the lid on until all the veg are tender. Season with salt, pepper.

Liquidise with your hand blender and then stir in a bit of cream at the end. It's very easy, very quick and mad cheap! Good luck!

Maglight

Instead of cream you can add a small can of unsweetened condensed/evaporated milk to the soup before serving. Don't let it boil once you have added the milk. Gives a lovely depth to the flavour without being as oily as cream.

Susie_Q

I have never in my life heard of adding condensed milk to soup. :eek: That stuff is pure sugar!!

Edit: My bad - just realised you said 'unsweetened' condensed milk. Nearly had a heart attack there!

neuro-praxis

Maglight wrote: »

Instead of cream you can add a small can of unsweetened condensed/evaporated milk to the soup before serving. Don't let it boil once you have added the milk. Gives a lovely depth to the flavour without being as oily as cream.

Do NOT add condensed milk. You can add a small amount of EVAPORATED milk. Condensed milk is like toffee. Evaporated milk is like slightly sweet cream. I wouldn't add either, but definitely do not add anything called condensed milk on the tin - in Ireland unsweetened condensed milk is called evaporated milk on the tin.

I am always giving out my favourite soup method - it's from Darina Allen and is foolproof. To make it thicker, I suggest adding another cup of potato to the following recipe.

Darina Allen's soup method is: butter+1:1:3:4

50g butter
1 cup potato
1 cup onion
3 cups of any other vegetable
4 cups of good quality stock

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (in truth I now only use about 25g). When it foams, add the onion and potato. Season lightly with salt, and plenty of black pepper. Coat in the butter, and turn the heat down low. Seal with a paper cover (parchment etc.), put the lid on, and sweat for ten minutes.

Remove the lid and discard the paper cover. Add the rest of the veg. Saute for 1 minute. Add the stock, and boil for ten minutes or until the veg is just tender. Do not overcook the veg or you'll lose its depth of flavour.

Liquidize, taste for seasoning, gently re-heat, and stir a spoonful of cream and some chopped chives into each bowl when serving.

Perfect every time.

The Lovely Muffin

Thanks so much everyone.

Neuro-praxis - how would I go about adding chicken to that soup? Would I dice the chicken (fillets) and then cook them separately then add to the soup and then put everything into the liquidiser?

Also - do the potatoes need to be sliced or diced?

neuro-praxis

Now, I've never made chicken and vegetable soup that was pureed. When I make chicken and vegetable soup, I always shred the meat and leave the vegetables chunky - a broth with meat and veg.

However, if I were you in this instance, I would poach a chicken breast or two in chicken stock, separate to the rest of the soup, then chop up the cooked meat and, at the last stage, blend it with the vegetables. The chicken will probably thicken it up for you nicely, and you could leave out the extra spuds.

As for chopping the potatoes and vegetables, I tend to cut them into small dice.

The Lovely Muffin

I made the soup today and used your recipe neuro-praxis, it turned out perfect, it's so full of flavour.

I used Garlic, Asparagus, Carrot and Celery and of course the foods in your recipe.

It's honestly the nicest soup I've ever had (and I'm not just saying that because I made it).

Thanks so much for your recipe and thanks to everyone else for all your recipes too.

neuro-praxis

Don't thank me, thank Darina! I have been making horrible soups all my life. Then Darina came along and everything changed. :pac: