Leftover Vegetable Soup

Down to just a few vegetables before my weekly shop, I threw them into the pot for this leftover vegetable soup. I love mixing a few ingredients together to see what soup I can come up with. I think the ginger really makes this one. The flavour reminds me of an elegant pumpkin, orange and ginger soup, rich with butter, cream and sugar, that my mum used to make from her Gretta Anna cookbook. Do you remember Gretta Anna Teplinksy? She was founder of the Gretta Anna School of Cooking. Her style of cuisine was classical French, and she taught more than 35,000 women in her cooking classes. http://www.foodandtravel.com.au/t-z/the-best-of-gretta-anna  In fact, I cooked recipes from one of her cookbooks for the first dinner party I ever hosted.

This soup doesn’t have the rich and silky elegance of a creamy Gretta Anna soup. I’ve used cashews, which are a good alternative to cream to thicken soups. I’ve also used olive oil and vegetable stock, so it’s a good vegan or vegetarian option. The apple delivers a little sweetness. Don’t throw out the pumpkin seeds. Roast them to use as a garnish, or to throw into a salad.

Do you have a favourite leftover vegetable soup of your own? Here’s a similar recipe for a simple soup from a blog post last year: Butternut pumpkin, parsnip and carrot soup

Best wishes,

Amanda

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Print Recipe

Leftover Vegetable Soup

A simple nourishing soup of a few leftover vegetables, with apple, ginger and cashews

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Servings: 2 people

Author: Amanda Lawson

Ingredients

• 1 small brown onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot, washed and chopped
• 1 small buttternut pumpkin, peeled and cubed (about 1 cup) save the seeds to roast
• 1 red apple, washed and chopped
• 1 small knob of ginger, grated (about 1 tbsp)
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion, ginger and a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until soft and fragrant.
• Add the pumpkin, carrot, apple and cashews stir into the onion mixture. Cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer, and cover. Cook the soup for about 20 minutes until the carrot and pumpkin are soft when pierced with a knife. Remove from the heat.
• Allow the soup to cool for 10 minutes, then puree wirh a handheld blender. Season to taste and garnish with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• While the soup is cooking, preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
• Rinse the pumpkin seeds of their flesh and pat them dry. Lay them out flat on a tray and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Roast them for about 10 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

The soup will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. It is suitable to freeze.

The roasted pumpkin seeds will keep in an airtight container for up to a week.