I think this is a pretty good example of the way The Boy and I cook – he favours hearty, meaty one-pot wonders with interesting ingredients like this braised oxtail dish, and I try to cook a lot of healthy, low carb and cheap meals with lots of veggies, like this roasted cauliflower soup. Not that The Boy always cooks crazy dishes, but since I handle most week day meals and he handles the weekend he has a bit more license to go crazy. Both dishes turned out great by the way – I think we eat pretty well!
Even though the weather has been warm I can’t stop making a vegetable soup of some kind for more than a week or two. I like how simple it is, and making things from cheap vegetables!
I’m certainly no expert, but here’s how I cook vegetable soups:
- Chop up and roast the vegetables (pumpkin or zucchini are my favourite at the moment, or it could be a mix of whatever is in the crisper) with some olive oil and seasoning.
- Sauté some diced onions and carrots or potatoes until soft.
- Add herbs and spices.
- Add roasted veggies and veggie stock.
- Simmer for a while.
- Take off the heat and blend it all up.
- Back on the heat with some milk until it’s warm through.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve with a drizzle olive oil and a dollop of yoghurt or sour cream.
Roasting seems to bring out a lot of flavour without too much effort, which I’m always a fan of. I usually just eat soup as a complete meal, but this would be easy to have simmering away on the side as an entrée whilst preparing something else as a main.
If you’re not such a fan of vegetable soup, Jeff’s meaty ox-tail dish might be more to your liking.
