Vegetable Tomato Soup

Chunky and satisfying, Vegetable Tomato Soup is so easy to make. Infinitely adaptable by using whatever vegetables and herbs you have to hand.

Add cooked beans or lentils to make it even heartier.

THE SEASON FOR SOUPS & STEWS

As I write this, the wind is literally howling outside my windows. For me, that means it’s time to get making soups and stews.

I wonder why that is? When I posted recently that Summer was officially over as we’d just eaten our first stew of the season, someone pointed out that we eat things like curries all year round and those are effectively stews. I suppose the difference is that when I make a curry I’m likely to have light, colder things with it like Asian-style coleslaw, yogurt, pickles etc. But when I eat soup or stew, I’ll normally just have a bowl of the warming stuff. Maybe some bread or croutons. Perhaps a little grated cheese on top. But that’s it.

Anyway, I like the idea of only doing particular things at certain times of year. I don’t want to eat asparagus and runner beans in December, Autumn seems right for making chutney, January is the time for new resolutions. And I don’t want a bowl of hot soup on a sweltering Summer’s day.

SIMPLE VEGETABLE TOMATO SOUP

Besides the comfort factor, the thing I love about homemade soups is that they’re so easy. Often using humble, everyday ingredients it takes very little effort to make something really satisfying.

My Vegetable Tomato Soup is a case in point. It’s got the usual soup suspects of onion, celery, carrot and potatoes but you can really add whatever vegetables you like. Mine also has leek, green beans, garlic and some of wonderful cavolo nero from our garden.

If you like your greens and have a little space, cavolo nero (literally ‘black cabbage’) is great to grow at home. In quite a small space you can have these iron-rich leaves from the end of Summer right through to the following spring. Just pick a few leaves off each plant and they’ll come back again and again.

Of course other greens are fine to substitute in this soup – kale, spinach, chard or Savoy cabbage.

I’ve used tinned tomatoes plus a little tomato puree in my Vegetable Tomato Soup. If you’ve lots of homegrown tomatoes then by all means use fresh – personally I’d roast them first, halved and drizzled with a little olive oil.

This soup can be flavoured with whatever herbs you like. I used fresh rosemary from the garden plus parsley, putting in half near the beginning of the cooking and the rest at the end. I find this gives the best flavour. If you only have dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, basil would all be good) then stir them in with the vegetables.

Even when I’m making a chunky bowlful like Vegetable Tomato Soup, I like to puree just a little of it. This naturally thickens the broth and makes it much more satisfying to eat. I do this right at the end, off the heat, whizzing with a stick blender for no more than a few seconds.

SERVING & VARIATIONS

The soup is a delight just as it is, either on its own or with some good bread. Actually, if you’ve never made bread before then take a look at my no knead homemade bread for beginners – you might be surprised just how easy it is to get fabulous, crusty bread.

I like an extra drizzle of olive oil over my Vegetable Tomato Soup, along with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

To ring the changes, try these variations and additions to the soup:

• Add cooked pulses such as lentils, chickpeas, butter or haricot beans
• Small pasta like orzo (or break up spaghetti or linguine) make a change from potatoes
• Replace the regular potato with sweet potato or butternut squash
• Frozen vegetables can replace some of the fresh ones e.g. frozen peas instead of green beans
• For heat and/or spice: add fresh or powdered chilli, ground cumin, coriander

4 from 1 vote

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Vegetable Tomato Soup

Chunky and satisfying, Vegetable Tomato Soup is so quick and easy to make. Vary with whatever veg you have or add pulses to make it even heartier.

Course Soup, Main Course

Cuisine Vegetarian, Vegan

Keyword vegetable & tomato soup, soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 2 sticks celery finely chopped
• 2 large carrots in large dice
• 1 large potato in large dice
• 1 medium leek roughly chopped
• 100 g green beans roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 0.5 tbsp rosemary finely chopped
• 2 tbsp parsley finely chopped
• salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 400 g tinned tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp sugar optional
• 500 ml vegetable stock or water
• 50 g cavolo nero / kale roughly chopped

To serve (optional)

• a drizzle of olive oil
• Parmesan cheese finely grated

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan then add the chopped onions & celery. Saute until starting to soften (5-10 min).
   

2. Stir in the carrots and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
   

3. Add the potatoes, leek, green beans, garlic plus half the rosemary and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, stir and cook for a further 2 minutes.
   

4. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and sugar if using. Stir in the vegetable stock or water, put a lid on and bring to the boil.
   

5. Turn the heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are almost done: stir occasionally to prevent sticking and add more stock or water if necessary.
   

6. Add the cavolo nero or kale plus the remaining rosemary and parsley and gently simmer for a further 3-5 minutes.
   

7. Check the seasoning and add more salt, pepper or herbs if liked.

   Optional: off the heat, use a stick blender to puree just a little of the soup to thicken it.
   

8. To serve, drizzle with a little olive oil and/or sprinkle with Parmesan if liked.
   

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