Soup song

Few things are easier to prepare, or more satisfying to eat, than homemade soup - a dish that's versatile enough to warm up a dank day, or provide a refreshing lunch as the temperature rises

The wages of a long, wet summer is a vegetable glut. Those watching their courgettes getting larger and more watery by the day, their tomatoes succumbing to all kinds of blight and their lettuces bolting as fast as Usain B, will be wondering what on earth to do with all this excess produce.

It all seems slightly overwhelming – but like a knight from the olden days, the WI comes galloping to the rescue. The organisation is having a massive sales push at present (look out for WI-branded produce in your local Waitrose) and part of this has been the publication of a collection of pretty, little food books – one of which is Homemade Soups. It simply couldn’t be more timely.

Homemade Soups is written by Grace Mulligan, presenter of ITV’s Farmhouse Kitchen, and Dilwen Phillips, who teaches at the WI cookery school at Denman College. You can also thank Dilwen Phillips’s mother, whose delicious homemade soups inspired her daughter’s eventual cooking career.

Soups are not only a good way of using up a glut, but are also very easy to make, and extremely nutritious to eat. You can make a soup out of pretty much anything – even water and a pile of ancient fridge veg can be a spectacular, last-minute lunch. Add some cream, a little alcohol, or a drop of stock and you have an ambrosial concoction. If you shove in some pasta, you’ve got an instant, substantial supper for unexpected guests.

Homemade Soups, the book, is more sophisticated by comparison, however; it includes recipes for things such as curried coconut vegetable soup, borscht, watercress and almond and sorrel and cucumber, but it’s also excellent on down-to-earth staples such as split pea and ham, broad-bean soup and curried parsnip.

The two summer soups below give you a good taste of the book as a whole.

Homemade Soups by Grace Mulligan and Dilwen Phillips is published Simon & Schuster, priced £12.99.

ASPARAGUS AND PEA SOUP

(pictured above)

This soup is also delicious made with canned asparagus and frozen peas, so it can be enjoyed at any time of year.

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking time: 40 minutes

Freezing: not recommended

Ingredients

• 850ml chicken stock
• 450g asparagus spears
• 225g shelled fresh peas
• 1 fresh mint sprig
• 40g butter, melted
• 40g plain flour
• 300ml semi-skimmed milk
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tbsp single cream, to serve

Method

Put the stock, asparagus, peas and mint into a large saucepan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, blend the butter and flour together. Bring the milk to the boil in a second saucepan and whisk walnut-sized pieces of the blended butter and flour into the milk until smooth. Continue cooking until the sauce has thickened.

Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool briefly. Blend until smooth. Add the sauce to the blended soup and mix together. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and then reheat gently. Serve garnished with a swirl of cream.

SALMON AND DILL SOUP

This is a lovely soup for a special occasion – rich and creamy and one to impress your friends.

Serves 4-5

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Freezing: not recommended

Ingredients

• 25g butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 50g plain flour
• 700ml fish stock (preferably homemade, but, if you’re pressed for time, use a readymade stock from a good supermarket)
• 450g tomatoes, skinned and chopped roughly, or 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 150g salmon fillets
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill, plus extra sprigs, to garnish
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 150ml double cream
• 80ml white wine 
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• curls of zest from ½ a lemon

Method

Melt the butter in a large, lidded saucepan. Add the onion and sweat for 5 minutes, covered, shaking the pan from time to time, until softened, but not browned.

Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a further minute. Stir in the fish stock, making sure the fl our is well blended. Add the tomatoes and salmon. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Lift the salmon from the pan, remove the skin and flake the flesh, discarding any bones. Set aside. Remove the soup from the heat and leave to cool briefly. Blend until smooth. Add the dill, lemon juice, cream and wine. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and then reheat gently.

Serve in shallow bowls, topped with the flaked salmon and garnished with the sprigs of dill, lemon zest and a grinding of black pepper.