Soup season cometh

Winter is coming. Oh dear. Even in a good year, this is not a pleasing prospect. It’s at this time of year that I find myself realising that I haven’t worn half of my summer clothes, and start trying to plan occasions to give them an airing. This year, not so much, given that any outing feels like it requires a full risk assessment first. (And I think we can all agree, this has not been a good year.) We have arranged some things, including – gasp – a short holiday in the first week of September. It’s still in the same county I’m currently in – Kent – but it will require getting on an actual train, which will take us to the actual seaside! I am looking forward to, although I do find that as soon as I’ve booked something, however much I want to do it, I get a slight feeling of panic about it, although that usually passes.


The feeling of approaching winter also reminds me how long all this has been going on. At the start of all this, carrots were just going out of season. Now they are firmly back again. With the weather having been distinctly autumnal (and downright stormy) since the end of the heatwave, soup is definitely back on the menu: so, carrot soup. This particular carrot soup in fact:

This comes from a newly-acquired recipe book: Root, Stem, Leaf, Flower by Gill Meller, formerly one of Hugh F-W’s deputies at River Cottage. This is the first thing I’ve made from it, but there are lots of other promising recipes, and it looks gorgeous too.

For this soup, start by chopping an onion, carrots and garlic, then fry them in olive oil with cumin and coriander seeds and a pinch of chilli flakes, (there should have been celery too, but I didn’t have any), until the onion is soft. Then add the carrots and stock, bring to a simmer, and let it gently bubble away for 20-25 minutes.

I know you all know what chopped carrots and onions look like, but as I finally managed to take some process shots.

Soup simmering

While this is happening, you need to cook the lentils. The recipe says to cook the almonds with them, and then salt them later, but I was using ready salted almonds, so I just threw them in at the end. Once they’re cooked, drain the lentils, and stick the same pan back on the hob with a bit of oil in it to warm up.


When the soup is ready, blend it until smooth, then let it simmer for another 5-10 while you do the final steps to finish off the lentils.

Blending the soup

Add some sliced garlic, chilli flakes and chopped rosemary to the olive oil, fry for a moment, then add the lentils and almonds (with some salt if you’re following the recipe properly, and not using ready salted almonds) and fry until they’re beginning to crisp slightly.

Frying lentils, with almonds and slightly crispy garlic.

Pour the soup into bowls and top with the lentils.

The final product

The soup was delicious – spicy, complex and satisfying -  and more filling than an average soup, thanks to the lentils. I’m sure I’ll make it again, and I’m looking forward to trying other recipes from the book. Winter will be got through, somehow.