Hearty Vegetable Soup

Perfect soup for a cold night!

Ingredients

• 2-3tbsp olive oil
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 celeriac, trimmed, peeled and roughly chopped. Keep the outer leaves as they’ll come in handy later
• 5-8 potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 cauliflower, stalk removed, trimmed into small florets
• ½ Savoy cabbage, remove the core and outer leaves
• 1 leek, trimmed, washed and chopped
• 1 courgette, chopped
• 1.5 litre water
• 4 vegetable stock cubes or pots
• A handful of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• A sprig of fresh thyme
• A handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

Method

1. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a Diamond Line 24 cm Stock Pot and when hot, add the carrots, potatoes, celeriac and onion.

2. Fry the vegetables to remove the water content. This intensifies the flavour.

3. Add the cauliflower, cabbage and a dash of olive oil. Stir in the leeks and courgette, and allow the vegetables to cook for 10 minutes.

4. Keep stirring the soup and pour in the water, adding the vegetable stock.

5. Bring to the boil, and then simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Next, add the discarded celeriac leaves, basil, parsley and thyme.

7. Finish off with a generous dash of olive oil to give it a taste of the Mediterranean, a bit like Minestrone and stir through the garlic to finish.