Add borscht, caldo verde or chestnut and bacon soup to your repertoire

Borscht (main picture)

Although borscht is most commonly associated with Russian or Ukrainian cuisine, it has been adopted into Georgian culture. Borscht often features cabbage, but here it’s replaced by apple and fennel, which instead add a delicious sweetness to the mellow beetroot.

Prep 15 min
Cook 35 min
Serves 6

4 beetroots, peeled and coarsely grated
1 pinch lemon salt (see method)
150ml vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp brown sugar
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2.5 litres water
2 granny smith apples, peeled and grated
4 garlic cloves, crushed
15g parsley, chopped
30g dill, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
Creme fraiche or soured cream, to serve

To make your own lemon salt: zest a lemon, spread on parchment with a small handful of salt and bake for 15 minutes in a very low oven.

Put the beetroot in a bowl, sprinkle over the lemon salt and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and fennel, and cook, stirring, for 15 minutes, until they are soft and translucent.

Push the onions to one side of the pan, then add the tomato puree and sugar to the centre of the pan and cook, stirring, for two minutes, until thickened. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir to combine.

Set aside a tablespoon of the beetroot mix and add the rest to the pan. Cook, stirring from time to time, for 10 minutes, until it starts to soften, then add the water and bring to a simmer.

Squeeze the grated apple over the soup to release any juices, then stir in the flesh. Cook for five minutes, then add the garlic, reserved beetroot, parsley and half the dill, and season to taste.

Divide the hot soup between bowls and garnish with the remaining dill and a spoonful of creme fraiche or soured cream.

Chestnut, nutmeg and bacon

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 6-8

25g butter
3 tbsp olive oil
12 rashers streaky bacon, roughly chopped
1 leek, finely diced
1 head celery, finely diced
2 whole celeriac, peeled and finely diced
½ bunch parsley, stalks removed, roughly chopped, plus a little extra to serve
2 red onions, peeled and finely diced
1 bay leaf, spine removed, pounded to a fine dust in a mortar with a little salt
1½ tbsp ground nutmeg
2 juniper berries, roughly crushed
5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g cooked, peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped
250ml double cream
1 litre chicken stock

In a large saucepan, heat the butter and oil over a low-medium heat, then gently fry the bacon, leek, celery, celeriac, parsley, onion, bay, nutmeg, juniper, garlic and a little salt and pepper, until very soft – about one hour.

Add the chestnuts and cook for 15 minutes more.

Add the cream and stock, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Check the seasoning, and add more pepper and a little more chopped parsley before serving.

Caldo verde

Prep 15 min
Cook 30 min
Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil
150g chouriço (aka Portuguese chorizo), skinned and diced, plus a few thin slices to garnish
2 onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 bay leaf
Sea salt flakes and ground white pepper
4 potatoes (maris piper or similar), peeled and cut into small dice
1.5 litres chicken stock (or water)
200g kale, finely chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
4 slices cornbread, sourdough or other rustic loaf, toasted, buttered and cut into small pieces (optional)
Good-quality white-wine vinegar, to serve

Heat the oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the diced sausage and cook for about two minutes, then add the onions, garlic and bay leaf. Season and cook until the onions are soft. Stir in the potatoes and sweat for a few minutes, stirring so they don’t stick. Pour in the stock or water, and simmer gently on a low heat until the potatoes are soft. Remove a few tablespoons of the potatoes and set aside.

Add half the kale and simmer for a few minutes. Remove the bay, take the pot off the heat and blend smooth with a stick blender. (Traditionally, caldo verde isn’t blended, but I prefer it this way; I then add more chopped kale at the end.) Return the pan to the heat and taste for seasoning. Add the reserved potatoes and the rest of the kale, and simmer for a few minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Finish with thinly sliced chouriço, extra-virgin olive oil and pieces of toast, if you like. This is quite a heavy soup, so I like to add a splash of white-wine vinegar to cut through the richness.

Red lentil and courgette curry soup

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4–5

Slices of wholemeal bread offered on the side would make the meal nutritionally complete. The sauce that accompanies the soup is really a chutney.

2 tbsp olive or peanut oil
4 cloves
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
¼–¾ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
200g red lentils, washed
1 potato, peeled and diced
10–12 fresh curry leaves, lightly crushed
1 handful coriander leaves
200g courgette (or yellow squash), chopped
About 1¾ tsp salt

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For the yoghurt sauce
250ml natural yoghurt
1 tbsp lime or lemon juice
45g fresh coriander, leaves and small stems
2 hot green chillies, chopped
¼ tsp salt

Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium-high flame. Add the cloves, leave them to sizzle for a few seconds, then add the onion and fry, stirring, for six to seven minutes, until they’re just starting to brown. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the ginger and garlic.

Add the ground spices, stir for a minute, then add 1.2 litres water, the lentils, potato, and curry and coriander leaves. Stir, turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to very low, cover and cook for 40 minutes.

Add the courgette and salt, stir and bring to a simmer. Cover, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool a little. Blend the soup, then add 250ml water (or more, to thin it to your liking). Reheat as and when needed.

For the sauce, blend all the ingredients until smooth, and refrigerate until needed.

To serve, drizzle the sauce generously over the very hot soup, and offer more on the side.

From Curry Easy: Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey (Ebury Press, £26)

Butternut squash, coconut and pickled ginger

In the winter months, this is a wonderful, warming soup, while in the summer it can be made in advance and served chilled (if you are serving it chilled, you may have to alter the consistency slightly with a little more coconut milk, because it will inevitably thicken during the cooling process.

Prep 15 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 6

2 tbsp vegetable (or coconut) oil
3 shallots, peeled, cut in half and then into thin half moons
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 small butternut squash (about 500g), peeled and diced
2 x 400ml tins coconut milk
1 bunch fresh coriander, stalks and leaves
40g Japanese pickled ginger
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp black sesame seeds, to garnish
2 tbsp coconut cream, to garnish

Heat the oil in a medium pan. Add the shallots and garlic, and cook over a medium heat until the shallots soften – about five minutes.

Add the squash, coconut milk and coriander stalks to the pan, along with a litre of cold water, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until the squash is soft.

Remove from the heat, add the ginger, soy and salt, then blend with a stick blender and pass through a fine sieve. Add the lime juice and serve garnished with coriander leaves, a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and a dollop of coconut cream.

From Caravan: Dining All Day, by Laura Harper-Hinton, Miles Kirby and Chris Ammermann (Square Peg, £25)

Borlotti bean and surf clam soup

You bake these borlotti beans in a clay pot with different seafood and herbs: combined with the saltiness of clean juices and the textures of the clams, they are wonderful. You will need to soak the beans overnight.

Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 4

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300g dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in cold water
A splash of olive oil
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 white onion, peeled and finely sliced
1½ tbsp chopped parsley
2½ garlic cloves, peeled and finely crushed
1 dried peperoncino (chilli), crushed
200ml white wine
4 small tomatoes, peeled
500ml light chicken or fish stock
1kg live palourde/carpet shell clams, cleaned
1 tbsp fresh breadcrumbs (optional)

Drain the beans, and heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2. Heat the oil over a medium flame in a clay pot or ovenproof dish for which you have a lid.

Add the celery, onion, one tablespoon of the parsley, two of the crushed garlic cloves and chilli, and sweat gently for two to three minutes without colouring.

Add the wine, bring to a boil and cook for two to three minutes, then add the tomatoes, beans and stock.

Put the dish in the oven and cook for 45 minutes, until the beans are tender. Take the dish out of the oven, scatter the clams on top, then cover again and return to the oven for 30 minutes, until all the clams have opened (discard any that remain closed).

Sprinkle over the remaining parsley and garlic, then stir. If the soup needs a little thickening, stir in some fresh breadcrumbs before serving.

From The Seahorse, by Mitch Tonks and Mat Prowse (Absolute Press, £25)

source: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/25/six-of-the-best-winter-soup-recipes