Minestrone alla Genovese | Genoese Minestrone with Pesto

How most excellent is pesto and its cousin pistou swirled into vegetable soups! We do it in our 13 Treasure Happiness Soup, so called because it brings a sense of joy and happiness to anyone who eats it. More correctly it is a Provencale Vegetable Soup.

Our soup today is one of the Italian ones that combines pasta and dried beans, a classic soup pairing, with vegetables. The pasta used can be Vermicelli or Maltagliati – the irregular shapes of pasta designed to go into soups. A hand made pesto crowns the soup and is swirled through the soup before eating – a process that adds to the joy of hot soup on a cold day.

Similar Soups include 13 Treasure Happiness Soup, and Chickpea and Butterbean Noodle Soup.

Browse our Minestrone Soups and all of our Soups. Our Italian dishes are here. Or explore our Late Autumn dishes.

Minestra di Pasta e Fagioli Borlotti | Italian Borlotti Bean and Pasta Soup

What is a Minestra? Minestra predates zuppa (another type of Italian soup) by a few centuries. Derived from the Latin ministrare, meaning to administer, the word reflects how minestra was served from a large bowl or pot by the figurehead in the household. Minestra was traditionally the principal – and often the only – dish served in a meal.

Today it is a rather umbrella term referring to a first course of vegetables, legumes, pasta or rice cooked in a stock.  Minestrone is one of many minestra soups. Regional variations abound but a minestrone always includes a vegetable that will thicken the soup, such as fresh or dried beans, potatoes or pumpkin. It must also include pasta or rice. Our soup today is a type of Minestrone (Minestrone di Fagioli or Minestrone di Pasta e Fagioli), one that does not include a large variety of vegetables. You will find similar soups under many different names as your browse the internet.

Similar dishes include Greek White Bean Soup, Dried Fava Bean Soup, and Turtle Bean Soup.

Browse all of our Soups and all of our Italian dishes. Or explore our Late Autumn recipes.

A Collection of 30 Soups for EARLY WINTER 2019

Winter is here, and it is a cold and wet start to the season this year. Out of the wardrobe come jumpers, coats, scarves and beanies. In the kitchen, soups arrive – wholesome and hearty, steaming as they hit the table. We are grateful to Winter for providing us with the weather to have these great soups.

Our approach to stock for soups has varied over the years. In current times, we tend to make it as we need it, quickly infusing skins and peels, lentils, vegetables, herbs and spices to match the soup. In past years, when we were busier, stocks always sat in the freezer – we made them in the evenings, or as we prepared other dishes the stock would bubble on the stove. Choose a method to suit your lifestyle and family. Sometimes we just use water! We rely on the vegetables and other ingredients itself to shine in the soup.

To help you on your way with stocks, here are the ones that we use the most.

• How to Make Vegetable Stocks
• How to Make Vegetarian Dashi
• A Light, Infused Vegetable Stock
• Deeply Flavoured Coconut Curry Stock
• Asian Flavoured Vegetable Stock
• Easy Vegetable Stocks

Now that you have your Winter wardrobe organised, let’s get cooking! Most of these soups will freeze well.

Here are 30 of our best Soups for Early Winter.

South Indian Palak Soup

Another Indian soup for you – this time a Spinach (or other greens) soup.  It is a gentle one, similar to many of the other Indian Soups we have here. In this recipe a spinach stock is made, and it is served thickened and with cream. Delicious. A very good Spring soup. It is gentle, without spicing – a common feature of South Indian soups.

The recipe is one of Meenakshi Ammal‘s from her cook books Cook and See. One of our very special projects in the kitchen is to cook through these books, as they are very traditional Tamil recipes.You can find all of Ammal’s dishes that we have made here. This one is from Vol. 4.

Similar recipes include 30 Beautiful Soups, Spinach Bhaji, and Aloo Palak Subzi.

Browse all of our Indian Soups and all Spinach recipes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Late Spring recipes.

A Collection of 30 Soups for Late Autumn | Seasonal Cooking

Sometimes late Autumn can bring sunny days and warm weather still, and secretly we hope for it. But the farmers pray for rain, and most years it comes. Cold weather comes too. We settle in for 4 – 5 months of cold weather before the sunshine emerges again with its warmth and new life.

By now we have stocked up on the lentils and beans for winter. There is citrus fruit and root vegetables. The oven provides warmth in the kitchen. Soups, soups and soups are made – they become a daily ritual.

Similar posts include What to Do with Daikon Radish.

Enjoy our 30 Soup Suggestions for the month that heralds the colder weather to come.

Tamatar Shorba | Indian Tomato Soup

Around the world tomato soup has a special place in the heart of people. My mother rarely made her own – we ate tinned tomato soup, and it was  wonderful! With piles of well buttered toast, butter made from fresh cow’s milk, we ate the soup in front of the wood fire on cold winter nights, slurping bowl after bowl.

While tomato based gravies and sauces are common in India, the idea of soup has not been common until more recent times. And my guess is that the British invasion had a lot to do with the growth of the popularity of Indian Tomato Soup. Derived from other dishes, Indian Tomato Soups (there are lots of different recipes) has gained a place in the heart of many inside and outside of that country.

We have another Indian Tomato Soup, one filled with cream (or use coconut milk) and gentle aromatic spices including lemongrass. It is a great recipe, but this one is different. This one is punchy and spicy, and totally gorgeous. On top of that, it is very easy to make.

North Indian soups are called Shorba and they are packed full of warming spices that help fight off colds and sniffles. In North India when the weather turns chilly you will find the shorba carts rolling into the streets. A traditional shorba is more of a consomme (a thin, watery soup that is very, very flavoursome) rather than the thick soups we are used to in the West. They tend to be served as drinks in small clay cups which warm your hands, your insides and your soul. They can also be served with rice as a winter warmer. Spicy shorbas originated from the Mughal cuisine. The spices used are all about warming your insides so lots of ginger, garlic, chilli and masalas.

Similar recipes include Creamy Indian Tomato Soup, South Indian Tomato and Potato Soup, Cream of Potato and Tomato Soup with Leeks, and Tomato Rasam.

Browse all of our Indian Soups, and all of our Indian recipes. Our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Summer recipes.

A Collection of 30 Soups for Mid Autumn | Seasonal Cooking

The weather suddenly turns cold around the middle of Mid Autumn, whether that is April in the Southern Hemisphere or October in the Northern Hemisphere. Rain sets in heating is turned on, jackets and raincoats come out of the closet. Scarves, gloves and hats are at the ready.

In the kitchen, citrus fruit is beginning to ripen, root vegetables take pride of place, and lentils and beans begin to appear on the table again. We bake, because the oven warms the kitchen. And hot soups and broths again appear, to bubble away on the stove top.

Enjoy our 20 Soup Suggestions for this month that heralds the colder weather to come.

South Indian Cold Minty Cucumber Yoghurt Soup

If you follow us on twitter or instagram you will know that in January we had the hottest day on record – over 47C – and temperatures into the 40c until midnight. It was manageable, and our local wild bird population crowded into the cool of the verandah where we made sure water was available for them. I made this crispy fried green bean dish for afternoon snacks that went well with beer (sadly I don’t drink beer, not even when it is 47), and this most excellent Feta and Pistachio Dip and Spread. I also made our recipe today, an Indian take on a cold cucumber soup. It is quite gorgeous. Simple. Easy.

Actually, this soup can also be sipped like a gorgeous lassi with ice. I love it this way too, on a terribly hot afternoon, sitting in the shade of the verandah.

Similar recipes include Tamatar Shorba, Cucumber Lassi, Cucumber Raita, and Tomato and Cucumber Cold Soup.

Browse all of our Cold Soups and all of our Cucumber dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Summer recipes.

Caldo | A Traditional Soup from Goa

In Goa there are several distinct cuisines – Indian/Hindu, Indian-Portuguese/Christian-Catholic, and Muslim. They differ quite considerably. The cuisine that receives the most prominence in cookbooks and online is the food that derived from the Portuguese Catholic invasion of 1510 and occupation until 1961.

Many of the well known dishes of Goa – Xacuti and Vindaloo for example – derive from this period and originate from Portuguese dishes that, over time, were enhanced with Indian food and taste preferences. Some Indian dishes were integrated into the cuisine, and most likely were influenced with flavours adjusted to the tastes of the Portuguese.

This soup is another example. It is a very simple soup – you can’t imagine how tasty it is from the simple ingredients. It is derived from a Portuguese dish and forms the basis of other Goan soups. Although simple, it is also a festive dish, served at weddings. It is a mild soup, but the cheese and pepper add beautiful flavours. It is common in Goa to use stock cubes to add flavour, but I use some quickly made, home made vegetable stock.

Note that there is a similar soup, Caldo Verde, which includes Goan greens and potatoes. It is different to this recipe.

Similar dishes include South Indian Palak Soup, Minty Cucumber Yoghurt Soup, Goan Vegetable Pulao, Goan Bisibelebath, and Fried Okra, Goan Style.

Browse all of our Indian Soups, and all of our Goan dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Summer recipes.

A Collection of 30 Soups for Early Autumn

The weather is still so mild in Early Autumn, with heat wave conditions and the odd cold day that has us searching for jumpers.

In the kitchen we hang onto Summer as long as we can. Delicious greens begin to appear in the markets and Amaranth and Purslane are easy pickings in our garden. The tomatoes hold on and eggplants are beautiful.

The weather has us looking for soups, whether it is hot or mild. A few cold soups for early Autumn and bowls and bowls of vegetable soup for the milder days.

Enjoy our 30 Soup Suggestions for this month.