Bowled over by soup

Homemade, easy-to-cook soups are the prefect antidote to the cold, dark winter days and nights upon us. Made with cheap and convenient ingredients, Darina Allen tells even the most basic of cooks how to throw together their own homemade soup

Nothing beats a bowl of soup when you are craving nourishment and some heart-warming comfort food. It can be as simple as a potato and onion soup, or a mixture of seasonal vegetables, or a more complex and aromatic broth enriched with chicken or seafood.

Add some cumin or coriander to a carrot soup and one is transported to Morocco, mint or tarragon is more reminiscent of the Mediterranean.

Some coconut milk or a blob of curry paste will liven up a basic soup and introduce flavours of Thailand or Malaysia. The addition of spices can introduce the flavours of the East or Far East, the Mediterranean, or Morocco depending on your choice of herbs and spices.

Many of the soups made at Ballymaloe are made on a basic formula that Myrtle Allen devised in the 1970s when she was perfecting recipes for the first edition of the Ballymaloe Cookbook:

One cup of chopped onion

One cup of chopped potato

Three cups of any vegetable of your choice, chopped

Five cups liquid, generally stock, but occasionally water and sometimes a little creamy milk.

With this formula one can make a myriad of delicious soups, the onion and potatoes are sweated in butter or a mixture of butter and olive oil, this forms the flavour base and the potato also serves to thicken the soup.

One vegetable may be used, eg parsnip or spinach or a mixture of vegetables, eg pea, bean and zucchini. Apart from the basic seasoning of salt and freshly ground pepper, one can add fresh herbs eg rosemary, or spices or even curry powder.

These basic soups are usually pureed – a liquidiser seems to give the smoothest result but a hand held blender is also a terrifically useful gadget to have in your cupboard. Stand it upright in the pot of soup, press the button and the little blades puree as they whizz around at speed. The texture is not as smooth as a blender but many prefer the slightly more rustic texture.

If you are using a green vegetable for soup, eg cabbage, kale, spinach, lettuce or watercress, add it close to the end of cooking and don't cover the saucepan, otherwise the fresh green colour will be spoiled.

Its also fun to add lots of bits to a soup, either as a garnish or just before you tuck in. Potato crisps and sizzling garlic butter are a delicious addition to a simple potato soup, crispy onions or spicy French fried onions add excitement to a creamy onion soup, whereas Gruyere toasts are the classic accompaniment to French onion soup.

Diced avocado, tortilla crisps, shredded chicken breast and lots of fresh coriander add a Mexican note to a spicy chicken broth. A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil is just a perfect foil for a bean or lentil soup. Basil or parsley or coriander pesto also add extra oomph to some chunky vegetable soups or even a simple potato soup.

Chilli also hits the spot as does harissa oil, crisp croutons add texture and crunch as do crispy bacon, pancetta or chorizo sausage. The latter release lots of paprika flavoured oil to drizzle over a soup and don't forget just simple freshly chopped herbs, even parsley, add a fresh note to many soups.

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