Carrot & Swede Soup

Another winter warmer up today with Carrot & Swede Soup! These two are a great combination and will really fill you up. This recipe calls for only half the soup to be blitzed, which gives a great creamy consistency, but you still have lots of chunky veg to enjoy.

Serve with a slice or two of Weight Watchers whole meal bread and a little low fat butter, or 2 slices of wheaten bread such as Mc Cambridges. A couple of Ryvita crisp bread also go very well as an alternative.

The following recipe makes two generous lunch/dinner portions or four starter portions.

Ingredients

• 2 pints of boiling water

• 2 vegetable stock cubes. (Preferably low sodium stock cubes). Crumbled

• 1 teaspoon of dried or fresh thyme

• 1 heaped teaspoon of tomato puree

• 2 sweeteners 

• 5g / 1 teaspoon of low fat butter spread

• 100g onion. Peeled and chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic. Peeled and finely chopped

• 200g carrots. Washed, topped, tailed and roughly chopped

• 200g swede. Topped, tailed, peeled and roughly chopped into cubes

• 100g celery. Washed, topped, tailed and roughly sliced

• 200g potatoes. Washed and roughly chopped into cubes

• A good twist of black pepper and a little salt if needed

Method

1. Heat a large pot on a medium to high heat. Add the boiling water and bring it back to the boil. When boiling, add the stock cubes, thyme, puree and sweeteners. Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium and allow it to simmer away
2. In a separate frying pan, heat to a medium to high heat and add the butter. When it's bubbling, add the onion and fry for 3-5 minutes until softened.
3. Next add the garlic and continue to fry for a further minute or so. When done, transfer the onion and garlic to the simmering stock.
4. Next, add the carrot to the frying pan and stir fry for 8-10 minutes or so until the carrot is lightly charred. You should season the carrots with a little salt and black pepper. Transfer to the stock when done.
5. Next, add the swede and stir fry for 5-8 minutes again until lightly charred. Again add a little salt and black pepper to the swede. When done, transfer to the simmering stock.
6. Next, add the celery to the pan and stir fry for 3-5 minutes. (You can add a spray of Fry Light One Cal spray oil if the celery doesn't seem to be doing anything in the pan). Again, season lightly and when done, transfer the celery to stock.
7. Then, add the cubed potatoes to the pan for 5-8 minutes and fry until lightly browned. Again season the potatoes with a little salt and pepper. Transfer to the stock when done.
8. Stir the stock well to make sure the additional ingredients are combined. Bring the stock to the boil and once it's boiled for a minute or so reduce the heat, and allow to simmer for 20 minutes or so. You should partially cover the pot with a lid or plate.
9. Test the swede and potato to make sure they are soft and cooked through and if so, decant approximately half the soup into a bowl. Carefully blitz the half remaining in the pot until smooth with a hand blender. 
10. Return the bowl of soup to the pot and stir to combine.
11. Taste it and add more salt if it needs it.
12. Serve in warmed bowls with a twist of black pepper.