3 soups to warm up your cold days

by The Flamingo

Cold autumn and winter days are upon us and nothing is more heart warming and also tummy-warming than a good soup. It’s nutritious, full of scrumptious flavours and keeps you hydrated. The Flamingo put together a list of her favorite 3 nourishing recipes:

Pumpkin soup

• a big chunk of pumpkin (the sweeter the better)
• one carrot
• one red bell pepper
• two juicy pears
• one leek
• two garlic cloves
• a ripe big tomato (or a few cherry tomatoes)
• sweet paprika powder
• home-made chicken stock (optional)
• olive oil
• salt, pepper
• pumpkin seeds,  pumpkin seed oil (optional)

For a the home made chicken stock you’ll need: a chicken (whole or just parts of it), a white onion, a celery root and a parsnip cut into big chunks. Take a pot and boil your chicken with the onion, celery and parsnip in it. The stock will provide a heartier flavour, but you can also not use it, the soup will taste amazing anyway.

Wash your veggies and fruit and cut them in big chunks. Take a Dutch Oven pot or a clay pot and add all the chunks inside. Pour two to three glasses of water or chicken stock in the pot and then sprinkle a little olive oil on top of everything. Put the cover on and leave the pot in the oven for at least one hour at 200 degrees. Take it out and after you verify that your ingredients are cooked through and, using a blender, mash them together. Take care not to burn yourself.

While you’re blending, add the rest of the chicken stock and incorporate it slowly and carefully. This dish should have a creamer composition, so make sure you don’t use too much soup. If you are not using soup, then blend just the contents of your pot, without adding any more extra water. Add salt and pepper to your taste.

When serving the soup, roast some pumpkin seeds and sprinkle them over it. If you also have some pumpkin seed oil, then add a few drops to your plate. You can savour this soup all autumn long!

Vegetable soup

• half of a Savoy Cabbage (curly cabbage)
• a kohlrabi
• 2 carrots
• one white onion
• a leek
• a small celery root
• one parsnip
• one bell pepper
• a small zucchini 
• one bunch of parsley
• the juice of one lemon
• salt
• olive oil

Wash your vegetables well and peel them. Put the onion, carrots, parsnip and celery root into a blender and chop them into fine pieces. Then take the cabbage and leek and cut them finely by hand. Chop the kohlrabi, zucchini and bell pepper into small bite size pieces.

Take a big pot and put water to a boil. Sprinkle a little olive oil when the water is boiling and then add your veggies from the blender. Add also the bits of kohlrabi, the finely chopped cabbage and leek. Let everything boil for ten minutes at least. Then, add the pieces of zucchini and bell pepper and leave it for 10 more minutes. Chop the parsley and add it together with the lemon juice. Salt it to your taste and your vegetable soup is ready.

Soup A la Grec

• 1 whole chicken (or you can use just chicken breast, but it’s not as tasty)
• 1 carrot
• 1 large white onion
• 1 parsnip
• 1 parsley root
• 1 small celery root
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 courgette
• 2 spoons of rice
• 250g sour cream
• 1 egg yolk
• parsley
• the juice of one lemon
• dill
• salt 

Boil your chicken in a big pot for one hour, adding boiled water to keep your soup level high and removing the foam. Meanwhile wash and peel the veggies, put the onion, carrot, celery root, parsley root and parsnip in the blender and cut them in fine pieces. Move the veggies into a bowl and then add the remaining ones to the blender: the courgette and the bell pepper, until they are also cut in small pieces.

When your chicken is boiled, remove it from the water and leave it to cool down. Add the first cut veggies and the two spoons of rice to the water and leave them for 10 minutes. Add the rest of  vegetables and boil everything for another 10 minutes.

Pour the sour cream into a small bowl and add the yolk to it, mix well, no lumps allowed. It is really important that you do the next part correctly: take a clean spoon and add from the boiling soup to your mix of sour cream and yolk and blend it in each time. Three hot spoons should be enough. Then blend this mix into your soup while removing your pot from the stove. Mix it well and add the lemon juice, salt, parsley and pepper. If you like meat in your soup, then add the breast of your boiled chicken. Cut it into small bite size pieces and mix it with everything else in your soup. The rest of your chicken you can cook it in the oven with herbs, or just prepare some stew with sauce and vegetables. Your “A la Grec Soup” will taste amazing.

I really hope you enjoy these recipes. Remember, The Flamingo cooks just as a hobby, and the recipes are adapted after my own taste. I am not a professional cook. Please share your favorite soups to enjoy during the cold weather and bon appétit! 

Photos from Flamingo‘s archive.