What’s on your plate: May

Thistles and Kiwis,

Regular readers will remember the gorgeous blue skies we had here at the weekend. Today, after a dry start, the rain clouds set in for the evening. When the weather is like this, and an autumnal chill can be felt in the early mornings, thoughts turn to soup.

Making soup is an enjoyable task – and eating it too if we are to be honest. A steaming bowl of goodness, full of flavour always goes down well. I love lentil soup, enjoy a minestrone, and seeing a tin of tomato soup takes me straight back to childhood and being served a bowl with mini toast squares to float in it whenever I was feeling poorly. I can just imagine the taste as I sit typing.

While hesitating to call today’s soup Scotch broth, for it wasn’t made with a lamb stock (or scrag end of lamb for that matter), and it contains a couple of vegetables (celery, cavolo nero) that would not have graced the tables of ‘guid Scots’ back in the day, I can say that it is that eponymous soup’s close cousin. Kale probably yes, and certainly swede, the latter of which I always forget to pick up.

Anyway, I put the broth mix (a standard mix of barley, split peas and lentils you can buy in the supermarket here and in the UK) to soak before going out this morning. To be honest, I don’t think this brand actually needed it, but I went through the process anyway. I used half a leek I had in the fridge, one small stick of leftover celery, a carrot and a parsnip to form the base of the soup, turning them golden brown before adding the stock (bought – don’t judge me) and broth mix. Bay leaves were tossed in, and the whole thing left to cook until the barley was done. 15 or so minutes before serving, I added in the greens.

A soup like this is perfect for grey, wet and unpleasant days. Serve with some bread (we indulged in some cheese, onion and garlic ciabbata from Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse for a change), then settle back, close the curtains and ignore the weather outside.

This well be entered in the What’s on Your Plate blog challenge hosted by bloggers Widow Badass and Retirement Reflections. This goes live on the first Wednesday of each month (it is Wednesday evening here already in New Zealand) and you can join in too with a food related post, just by adding yours to their linkup.

Also sharing for Min’s Wednesday Words and Whimsy #wwwhimsy linkup.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.co

Published by Thistles and Kiwis

39 Comments

  4. Home made soup is the best! We enjoy it during the winter months and always create stock from the remains of a roast chicken. It made me smile to read that you loved tomato soup (I imagine the famous one) when you were poorly as a child as I was the same. It was the only thing I would eat along with white bread! Strewth!

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  5. We are entering ideal soup weather here: beautifully warm days and rather chilly nights. My husband likes tomato soup above all else, while I prefer a range of them. They are also a wonderful way of using up leftovers 🙂

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  7. I’m in Scotland and I put all sort of non-traditional stuff in my ‘traditional’ soups – the way I look at it, had some rather more exotic ingredients been commonly available back in the day, they would probably have been used at the time, too! Waste not, want not 🙂

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  9. I make a beef barley that’s a cousin to Scotch broth. Love smoking my beef bones as it adds such a nice background smoke. Love soups. Probably my favourite item as they are so varied. Currently using up some pureed beets (for beet brownies, but I did too many packages) into a beet soup with parsnips, dill, and garlic. So good. I use whatever stock I have on hand.

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  10. Hi, Barb – Although I definitely have different plans for what I will be making for dinner shortly (blackbean and rice burgers with salad (to use up veggie leftovers that I have in the fridge) my thoughts are now turning to soup. I may make that tomorrow night’s adventure.

    Thanks for the suggestion and the linkup!

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  14. Hi Barbara, this soup sounds delicious and yes to cooler weather and soup time! I love getting my slow cooker on in the mornings and having wonderful soups and other winter warmers ready for me by dinner time. Some soups I cook in the pot but most are slow cooked. I love the cooler weather – my favourite! Thanks for linking up with #WWWhimsy and best wishes for a wonderful May ahead! x

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  15. Oh – at the beginning of a cold spring here, it really appeals. I have some lamb broth in the freezer. Normally I’m a vegetarian (cooked lamb for my husband at Easter), but am so tempted to try it … it never stops raining!

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  18. From the Southern Hemisphere kitchens this month come SOUPS, while here up north we are vainly hoping for some other kind of weather soon. Today in Michigan it’s really soup weather, but not what we will be eating. All the different varieties of chicken soup sound good. My mother used to buy that packaged soup mix, but I have no idea if it’s still available here.

    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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