Tinned tomato, chicken or vegetable soups served to start the meal seem like something from a bygone age. Today the dish is more likely to be handmade and healthy, and the centrepiece of the meal.
In our house, soup is dinner. I honestly can’t remember the last time I served it to start a meal. That is how much we love the stuff, whatever the time of year. Herb soups the colour of a summer lawn; chunky bean broths with bowls of gaspingly garlicky aioli; a classic chilled cucumber and sheep’s yogurt soup flecked with radishes and capers.
Earlier in the week I made a chicken soup thick with butter beans, giving it a summery tone with tarragon and grilled chicken skin. It was light, sustaining and far from bank-breaking, and we ate it outdoors with knobbly sticks of sourdough bread. Two days later a box of carrots ended up as a vivid soup with sautéed green-shouldered tomatoes and craggy shards of feta.
Of course if you do want something lighter to serve as a summer starter, there are all those gentle lettuce soups. I made one a year or two ago with nettles, young ones, picked from the garden and prepared with rubber gloves on. A summer soup (almost) for free.
Carrot, tomato and feta soup
Choose carrots that are large and firm. The fine, early, finger-thick carrots make a slightly watery soup.
Serves 4-6
onion 1, large
groundnut or vegetable oil 5 tbsp
carrots 400g
vegetable stock 1.5 litres
tomatoes 500g
feta cheese 200g
Peel the onion, chop it roughly, then let it cook over a moderate heat in a large pan with half the oil. Roughly chop the carrots. When the onion is soft and translucent add the carrots. Let them colour very slightly, for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Let the soup cook for about 30 minutes on a low to moderate heat, with the occasional stir.
Chop the tomatoes and put them in a shallow pan over a moderate heat with the remaining oil and let them cook down to a slushy consistency.
Blend the soup to a smooth texture in a blender or food processor. Stir in the cooked-down tomato and season with salt and black pepper.
Divide the soup between bowls, then crumble the feta cheese and add a small amount to each bowl. It’ll soften, but not melt. A pinch of sour saltiness with your sweet soup.
Chicken, butter bean and tarragon soup
I use canned or bottled butter beans for speed and because they are going to be reduced to a purée so there is little point in cooking your own.
Serves 4
onions 3, large
butter 30g
olive oil a little
butter beans 2 x 400g cans
chicken stock 1 litre
chicken thighs 4 large, on the bone
parsley 5 or 6 sprigs
tarragon 6 sprigs
Peel the onions and roughly chop them. Melt the butter in a saucepan, pour in a little olive oil, then add the chopped onions and let them cook over a low heat for 15 minutes.
Drain the canned beans, then stir them into the onions, together with the stock and bring to the boil. Remove the skin from the chicken thighs, reserve, then put the thighs into the stock. Lower the heat and let the chicken, beans and onions simmer for about 40 minutes.
Stretch the chicken skins flat and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake in a low oven (150C/gas mark 2), seasoned with salt and pepper, for 15-20 minutes until crisp and gold. Set aside on draining paper.
Remove the thighs from the soup. Cut the meat from the bone and tear into large pieces, then put in a small mixing bowl. Chop the parsley and tarragon, then add it to the chicken with a little salt and pepper and toss the meat gently so it is lightly coated in herbs. Using an electric blender, blitz about half of the soup to a creamy purée then divide between four large bowls, add the chicken and a piece of crisp chicken “crackling” to each.
Nettle and lettuce soup
If you are thinking of serving soup as a starter, then try this one. It’s not a thick soup. If you feel the need to enrich it with dairy produce, try a dollop of crème fraîche. The clean, sharp richness would be pleasing here.
Serves 4
spring onions 4
butter 20g
carrot 1, small
garlic clove 1 ,small
vegetable or chicken stock 1.5 litres
lettuce 1, small to medium-sized
nettle leaves 100g
peas 160g
Cut the roots and the dark green leaves from the spring onions and discard them. Slice the onions thinly and let them soften with the butter in a pan while you finely chop the carrot and garlic. Add both to the pan and stir occasionally as they become tender. Heat the stock and pour it in.
Wash and tear up the lettuce leaves and add them to the stock with the thoroughly washed nettles, peas and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Bring back to the boil, then simmer for about 7-10 minutes until the nettles are tender but all is still bright green.
Blitz in a blender until smooth – this is not a soup for the mouli. Check the seasoning and serve.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk. Follow Nigel on Twitter @NigelSlater
