The aroma from a steaming bowl of home-made soup on a cold winter's evening never fails to delight. The cruel elements rage outside whilst you enjoy a cosy evening by the hearth and the soup slides down easily, making you feel loved and indulged. If you are entertaining then there is no better way to start the meal than with a smooth creamy soup. The family will welcome a hot vegetable broth when they come home and, of course, a sophisticated chilled soup is wonderful to serve on a hot summer's day.
Many soups are ideal to serve as a 'one course' meal with lots of crusty bread, toast or dumplings.
At one time making soup was thought to be a fiddly and time-consuming operation. Not so now, with the aid of liquidisers and food processors, although it is still possible to make soup without them by pressing it through a sieve with the back of a spoon to produce a creamy texture. This method removes some of the fibre and will make the soup slightly thinner but this can be easily remedied by combining equal quantities of flour and butter and adding to the soup in small pieces until it has reached the desired consistency. If your soup is too thick, add a little more stock, water or milk. For a non-dairy diet, soya milk, nut milks, creamed coconut or tofu can be used instead.