Any decent winter vegetable soup recipe should produce a
thick soup and this is why pearl barley is used (see 'notes for cook'
below the ingredients if you are not sure about pearl barley).
It gives the soup a bite to the flavour and a great, nearly creamy texture. This
is an all time great UK soup! Click any of the step by step pictures below to enlarge it.
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KEY POINTS
Preparation Time:
Cooking Time:
How Difficult
Easy
Freeze?
Yes
Servings
4 portions
Written by: David Marks
INGREDIENTS
PICTURE IS FOR ILLUSTRATION ONLY. USE QUANTITIES
BELOW
NOTE! Picture shows 4 parsnips but the recipe is
correct, only use 1 parsnip.
We got carried away and used the other 3 parsnips for a
different recipe.
Ingredients
How Much
Chicken or vegetable stock (homemade or use stock
cubes)
1.5 litres / 2½ pints
Pearl barley (see 'notes for cook' below)
100g / 3½oz
Leek, trimmed top and bottom as shown in
ingredients picture above
2
Celery sticks
2
Carrots, peeled
2 large
Parsnip, peeled
1 medium
White wine
5 tablespoons
Tomato puree
2 tablespoons
2 bay leaves
2
Chopped parsley
2 tablespoons
Black pepper (freshly ground if possible) to taste
To taste
Bread - any type
Slice per person
COOKING EQUIPMENT
1 Medium-sized pan
1 Large-sized pan
Scales
Knife
Notes for the Cook on Winter Vegetable Soup recipe: Pearl Barley is a 'pulse' well known to cooks but if you are an
amateur, I can assure you your local shops will stock it. It's normally
near the dried vegetables (such as lentils). It is also cheap and keeps
for ages and ages!
If you keep to the cooking times below you will end
up with a soup where the vegetables still have a bit of their 'crunch' left,
just the way we like it. Cooking for longer will soften the vegetables
more.
No salt has been included in the recipe because the stock cubes
/ tinned stock will contain enough salt on their own. Taste the soup
five minutes before serving and add any more salt at that point if you
want.
How To Make Homemade Winter Vegetable Soup
First, make the chicken (or vegetable) stock either
using stock cubes (follow packet instructions for how many cubes
to make 2.5 pints) or canned chicken / vegetable stock. Use a
medium sized-pan.
Add the pearl barley and simmer the mixture whilst continuing
on with the steps below. Stir occasionally.
Chop up the carrots, leek, parsnip and celery into
small cubes. Click on the picture to the right to give you a
better idea of the best size to chop the vegetables.
Add wine to another (large) pan and then add the leeks.
Simmer this mixture for about five minutes with the pan covered. Stir a
couple of times to prevent the leeks sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Add the remaining chopped vegetables to the large pan. Simmer for another 5
minutes stirring a couple of times.
Pour the stock / pearl barley from the medium pan
into the cooking vegetables in the large pan.
Add the tomato puree and bay leaves to complete the soup.
Bring it to the boil then simmer for about 25 minutes stirring
occasionally.
Just before serving the soup, toast some bread.
Immediately before serving season the soup with the ground black pepper and
chopped parsley.
Serve the soup into four large bowls. Sit back and enjoy!
This winter vegetable soup is fantastic to use as a base for different variations. I'm
using the base but I've added a couple of cloves of garlic, a sprig of rosemary, some
shredded Savoy cabbage, a tin of barlotti beans, a small chopped red chilli (deseeded if
you prefer) and finally the best bit... a few anchovy fillets! This turns it into
something really special. They
just melt away but give such a great depth of flavour (not fishy though) along with the
background heat from the chilli. You'll never buy another tin of soup again!
From: Michelle
10 February 2010
Well, I have been looking for a good vegetable soup and have found one. Have printed of
and going to enjoy making and eating by all the reviews. Thank
you. xx
From: Lynn Del
Bianco
15 February 2010
I have been looking for a lovely vegetable soup, and will be making it for my parents, on Shrove Tuesday,
before we have our tasty pancakes. Thank you!!
From: Ryan
3 March 2010
Thanks! Were going to make this at school, cant wait, it looks good!
From: Clare W
11 March 2010
This vegetable soup is simply AMAZING! I made it a couple of weeks ago and will be
making it again tonight (and doubling the batch to freeze some!). It really is the
tastiest vegetable soup we've ever eaten, might try adding a bit of chilli tonight to
give it even more punch.
We used the new Knorr jelly chicken stock cubes which tasted delicious. One tip, I did
have to add another litre or so of water/stock towards the end as I seem to have
evaporated all the liquid (was probably my cooking rather than the recipe) :-)
From: Marg
15 March 2010
Fantastic soup made it tonight quick easy very tasty.
From: Joyce
Garlick
16 March 2010
I have just made this winter vegetable soup & it is del cant wait for my hubby to try it
when he gets in from work. Thank u for a very tasty & easy to make soup.
From: Joyce
Garlick
16 March 2010
I have just made this winter vegetable soup & it is del cant wait for my hubby to try it
when he gets in from work. Thank u for a very tasty & easy to make soup.
From: Emma T
24 March 2010
Thank you so much for this soup which has been requested by my boyfriend for the past 6
weeks no less than 5 times! We are both on diets and find this soup not only really
tasty but also very filling. As mentioned by Clare W, I added a pinch of chilli flakes
to the soup to give it extra 'winter warmth' - it was fab. x
From: Michael
Cleary
4 April 2010
I made this winter vegetable soup recipe on Easter Sunday, my wife said it was the best
soup I have made to date. Thanks I will make it again, mike.
From: Fredy
21 June 2010
Such a wonderful surprise for the family!!! and lots of joy
preparing it!!
From: Michelle
6 September 2010
Easy and delicious what more could you ask for!!!
16 September 2010
From: Stacey
This soup tasted delicious, easy to make and enjoyed by
all the family!
Not Given
16 September 2010
From: Not Given
It's a very good winter vegetable soup recipe with good
instructions, very useful. Thanks! xxx
20 October 2010
From: Markie Marcus
Umm just made this Winter vegetable Soup but with a
couple of very minor alterations... Halfway through sweating the leeks I
added three chopped cloves of garlic and when adding the rest of the veg
added 140g tin of sweet corn and 125g tin of butter beans. Once cooked I
blitzed it with a handheld blender... absolutely fantastic... worth £10
a bowl in any restaurant. TRY IT!
21 October 2010
From: Bunty
Absolutely lovely. Easy to prepare and even easier to
eat!!!
1 November 2010
From: Julie
Lovely soup, the whole family loved it , Julie
2 November 2010
From: Lou
Brilliant! my kids love it!
Not Given
5 November 2010
From: Cecilia
I loved the flavour but found the amount of pearl barley
a bit overwhelming. Can potato be used instead, or as well as some
pearl barley??
Answer: Yes, chop the potatoes into
smallish cubes and add to the soup about 25 minutes before it has
finished cooking. You will need to experiment with exactly how much
potato to add instead of pearl barley, but both absorb liquid.
5 November 2010
From: Joyce
First class soup.....unbeatable.
14 November 2010
From: Gareth
Ebbrell
Fantastic instructions for a basic vegetable soup - and
I mean absolutely nothing derogatory when i use the term 'basic'. I
followed markie marcus' principle and added butter beans and blitzed it
but with potatoes for body instead of sweetcorn. My wife is ill at the
mo, but won't eat a chunky soup and she loved this. Thanks for the
recipe.
6 February 2011
From: Donna Hartley
So easy and very tasty. Did as others have done and
added chilli and garlic. Now I have the basics will definitely try other
veg with it maybe replace the leek with red onion for extra colour or
swede instead of parsnip.
7 December 2011
From: E. Yates
I use this soup as a base to add different vegetables to vary the taste. Great taste indeed.
