Marrow, Courgette And Carrot Soup

Marrows, Courgettes And Carrots

When marrow, courgettes and carrots are plentiful in the summer and autumn, what better way of getting all their goodness than a warming vegetable soup? Normally when you cook vegetables, especially when you boil them, you risk losing a lot of the vitamins in the water. When you make soup you keep the water or stock the vegetables are boiled in, so you keep all the goodness.

Autumn

I love late summer andthe beginning of autumn. I love the change in light on sunny days, the gentle breeze and hint of cooler days. Most of all I love the changing colours and the falling leaves. The smell as they begin to rot and give their goodness back to the earth.

I love the Autumn trees, the wonderful colours. The chill air brings promise of warming soups, made with late summer vegetables such as marrow and courgettes

September always makes me think of new beginnings. I think it is left over from starting the new year at school and college. Perhaps it is also because it is harder to get things achieved in the summer as so many people are on holiday and the autumn brings a feeling of getting back in doors and getting some hard work done!

Autumn heralds the late summer vegetables and the promise of winter root vegetables – parsnip and swede. As the days get colder, warming stews and soups take over from salads and light suppers.

Easy To Cook Vegetable Soup

Soups can be made with pretty much any vegetable and really any combination, so long as it is a combination that you like.

You can make soups more substantial by adding potatoes, rice, lentils or pasta. Add flavourings such as herbs, paprika, chilli, cumin or make it more creamy with cheese, creme fraiche, or cream. Soup is lovely served with good bread, especially home made bread.

Carrots are available nearly all year round but vary in taste and texture. They sweeten any recipe as well as adding plenty of flavour. Try to get locally grown, organic caroots – they taste so much better than the supermarket carrots.

Marrows are plentiful and there are some good recipes to use them such as Stuffed Marrow but it may be that after cooking them a few times you may get tired of them – then soup is the ideal solution! I often don’t use a whole marrow at a time, so this is an excellent way to use up the rest!Take out the seeds and chop it up small. Only use the skin if it is soft and easy to chop, if it is quite hard and fibrous just use the flesh.

Courgettes continue to be plentiful and are an amazingly versatile vegetable. You can put them in most stews and add to lasagne and pasta dishes. Taking only a few minutes to cook they can be served up as a separate vegetable too.