Soup formula, and broccoli and gruyere soup

Winter has taken hold of Cape Town in earnest over the past few weeks. While I’ve given it some thought and decided that, on the whole, I don’t like winter, I do like the excuse to eat wintry meals. My absolute favourite wintry meals are meaty braises of any origin – stews, curries, tagines, cassoulets, ragouts, and so on. Sadly, if I ate those kinds of meals every day, I’d be much poorer and far bigger. So instead I make simple vegetable-based soups, which are nearly as good.

For most of the simple soups I make, ones that focus on one or two vegetables with some added flavour to accent the vegetables, I follow the same formula: sauté some onion in olive oil or butter, add garlic and/or ginger if needed, add raw or roasted vegetable(s) and cover with stock or water, simmer till cooked through, add flavouring accents, blend, and season.

Some things I’ve learnt over the years that I’ve used this formula:

• rather add too little liquid than too much, since you can always thin a soup down later if needed
• don’t overcook green vegetables, like broccoli and courgettes, since they’ll turn an ugly shade of khaki
• a little bit of milk added just before blending makes vegetable soups creamy without the need for actual cream
• if you want a very thick soup, add a bit of rice or some peeled, cubed potato to the pot when you add the vegetables
• a squirt of lemon juice livens up almost any soup’s flavour
• roasting vegetables before turning them into soup adds a lot of flavour, but can muddy a soup’s colour a bit with some vegetables (like butternut)
• most vegetable soups need more salt and pepper than you think

For a recent function, I used my basic formula to make a creamy butternut and orange soup, a roasted tomato soup, and a broccoli and gruyere soup. Here is the recipe for the broccoli and gruyere soup, as an example of using the soup formula.

Broccoli and gruyere soup

Serves 4 – 6

1 small onion, chopped

Olive oil

1 – 2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium, or 1 very big, heads of broccoli, chopped (include the stems)

1 liter hot stock (chicken or vegetable) or water

200g grated gruyere

Salt, pepper, and lemon juice

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onion, and sauté until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for a further two minutes. Add the chopped broccoli and stock or water, and simmer for 10 – 20 minutes, until the broccoli is tender but not mushy. Watch carefully to make sure the broccoli doesn’t overcook and start to turn dark, you want it to remain bright green.

Once the broccoli is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the gruyere until melted. Blend thoroughly using either a handheld blender, food processor, or a normal blender (if using a normal blender – blend in small batches!). Taste and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

So quick, simple and healthy, I’ve been making soups like this one for dinner almost every other night. Which means I will very soon hate the sight and smell of soup and will go back to my delicious meaty braises. At least I’ve tried to be healthy and economical.