Soups are a quick and easy way to knock up a meal using ingredients that you might have lying around your cupboard or freezer.

Here’s a recipe for a base, followed by 3 different main ingredient options.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 1 onion sliced
• 2 tbsp butter or oil
• 1 stock cube
• A recently boiled kettle of water
• For pea soup: 500g frozen peas
• For pumpkin soup: 1/2 pumpkin (roughly 500g), peeled and roughly chopped
• For tomato soup: 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes

Method

1. Heat the butter or oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and fry until soft
2. Add your main ingredient (pea/pumpkin/tomato) crumble in the stock cube and pour over enough hot water to cover
3. Bring to the boil and simmer until the main ingredient is cooked
4. Blitz with a blender if you’d like a smooth soup, or leave chunky. Add a dash of cream if you like and serve with bread

To thicken a soup and make it more filling, try adding handfuls of lentils when you add the main vegetables and cook until they’re soft.