Vegie Soup

I said to Mr Frillypants this afternoon, "How about a Beef and Leek Pie.  I want to try that recipe..."  "No."  he said.  "No more meat.  I want vegies!"  Alllllrighty then.  Vegies you shall have.  (In his defence, Mr Frillypants is a vegetarian-turned-omnivore and would be thrilled with 6 vegie and 1 meat meal per week.)

So vegie soup it is.

It occurs to me that some might look at this blog for inspiration (what the hell am I gonna make for dinner???) rather than recipes,  so it'd be worth me mentioning it.  Sure, Vegie Soup is different every time in every house.  But here's the recipe I went with today.

INGREDIENTS:

• 500ml or more Chicken stock (homemade) (make up with water to fill bowl once all ingredients in)
• 1 leek, roughly chopped into 5cm pieces
• 3 small spring onions, roughly chopped
• butter or oil to sautee
• Garlic to taste
• 100g Pearl Barley
• 50g Split Peas
• 2 medium carrots, finely diced
• 1 swede, finely diced
• 1 medium potato, finely diced
• 2 sticks celery, finely sliced
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/8 cabbage, finely diced    (Vegie enough for you, Mr Frillypants???)
• 100-150 g pasta if desired

METHOD:

• Put garlic, leek and spring onions into TMX bowl and chop on Speed 6 for 4 seconds
• Scrape down bowl with spatula
• Saute on Speed 4 for 3 minutes
• Add all other ingredients, except cabbage and pasta
• Cook on Reverse Speed soft for 15 minutes on 100 degrees
• Add cabbage and cook on Reverse Speed soft for further 15 minutes on 100 degrees
• At this stage,  we were a long way off eating and I felt the soup could use some more 'flavour time' so I set it for 20 minutes on  Reverse Speed soft on 70 degrees.
• We're close to meal time now,  so I've stirred in a handful of pasta and set it for 10 minutes on  Reverse Speed soft on 80 degrees.
• Oops,  pasta's not cooked.  I've added another 5 minutes on Reverse Speed soft on 100 degrees.

Verdict:

Wow,  that is one thick, gloopy soupy!  I had to add water to make it okay for the kids and even then they didn't exactly scoff it.  I think it was the starchy consistency putting them off.  Mr Frillypants was loving his bowl as was I.

Tweeks:

Next time leave out the potato.  Even though the rest of the vegetables were not overcooked at all, the potato was completely obliterated.  We'd all simply prefer a clearer broth.  I'll also check the TMX forum about this issue.