What spices for a home made vegetable soup ?

[Reynard]

Caramelise the onion nicely first - maybe in bacon fat if you're not vegetarian. Add some cumin, garlic if you like it and the usual complement of herbs; I like to add a tin of tomatoes (reducing the total amount of liquid added to account for the tomatoes and their liquid), basil and some (cooked) chickpeas.

Ah, but that takes it into Minestrone territory... Might as well use canellini beans and add shredded savoy cabbage into the mix.

 

[raleighnut]

Ah, but that takes it into Minestrone territory... Might as well use canellini beans and add shredded savoy cabbage into the mix.

There are no Tomatos in my Minestrone recipe from an Angela Hartnett book and she is of Italian heritage (it does however have a bulb of Fennel, a Courgette (Zuchini) and grated Parmesan in it.

 

[raleighnut]

There are no Tomatos in my Minestrone recipe from an Angela Hartnett book and she is of Italian heritage (it does however have a bulb of Fennel, a Courgette (Zuchini) and grated Parmesan in it.

from this recipe book

 

[KnittyNorah]

Ah, but that takes it into Minestrone territory... Might as well use canellini beans and add shredded savoy cabbage into the mix.

Nah, no toms in minestrone. And I put chickpeas (or lentils - depends on the texture wanted or expected) in almost everything. Not dried beans much, though.

 

[Reynard]

There are no Tomatos in my Minestrone recipe from an Angela Hartnett book and she is of Italian heritage (it does however have a bulb of Fennel, a Courgette (Zuchini) and grated Parmesan in it.

Ah, but the thing is, every cook of Italian heritage says their Nonna knows best, and that it's the only correct recipe for (insert dish of choice)

Not saying it's right, not saying it's wrong, it's just how it is.

My knowledge of Italian food comes mainly from a Sicilian guy who I shared some lectures with while at Uni back in the day.

 

[raleighnut]

Ah, but the thing is, every cook of Italian heritage says their Nonna knows best, and that it's the only correct recipe for (insert dish of choice)

Not saying it's right, not saying it's wrong, it's just how it is.

My knowledge of Italian food comes mainly from a Sicilian guy who I shared some lectures with while at Uni back in the day.

Yep but the resulting soup following that recipe is lush

Anyway back to the OP's request, I'd use some Smoked Paprika as well as freshly ground Black Peppercorns but with one other ingredient, I'd add a finely chopped stick of Celery to the finely chopped Onion and saute before adding a diced Potato and the mixed veg for 5 minutes then adding stock.

 

[MontyVeda]

Apart from S&P, I don't but any spices into a veg soup... but white cabbage is absolutely essential, then as many different coloured veges as possible

 

[CanucksTraveller]

For root veg soups add a good teaspoon of curry powder when you sweat the veg, it doesn't make the soup hot / spicy, just adds a nice depth of flavour and interest.
And yes cumin is nice too.

 

[Chief Broom]

I add chillies to most things either fresh or powder, doesnt have to be hot, hot, but will give a extra dimension and theyre full of vitamins

 

[Reynard]

Yep but the resulting soup following that recipe is lush

Anyway back to the OP's request, I'd use some Smoked Paprika as well as freshly ground Black Peppercorns but with one other ingredient, I'd add a finely chopped stick of Celery to the finely chopped Onion and saute before adding a diced Potato and the mixed veg for 5 minutes then adding stock.

Not saying it isn't! I love fennel

 

[Reynard]

For root veg soups add a good teaspoon of curry powder when you sweat the veg, it doesn't make the soup hot / spicy, just adds a nice depth of flavour and interest.
And yes cumin is nice too.

This! Nothing quite like a good curried parsnip soup

Thai spices and a little pouch of creamed coconut is also particularly good with root veg. My current soup-du-jour is carrot, sweet potato & red lentil. What went into that is ginger, lemongrass, garlic, ground coriander, chilli, coconut and a dollop of pesto (a decent substitute for Thai basil). It's very good, btw...

 

[Once a Wheeler]

For a classic vegetable soup, look no further than the traditional Bouquet Garni aka bay, thyme and parsley. And a clove or two of garlic, plus black pepper. Hold the salt till the soup is done as you may not need it. Some stock cubes can be quite salty.

Outside of flavourings, other nice "extras" can be broken up spaghetti, pearl barley and split peas.

I'm at one with Reynard, that's the way to go with soup. I would underline his (edit: her, see below) 'Hold the salt' comment. Most stock cube makers pile in the salt because it is cheap and tangy but not so good for your health. The wonder ingredient to make bland soup zingy is ginger. Make a soup of nothing but butternut squash and water. It is OK, it is soup, it is palatable but nothing to make you want to prefer it over a tin or a packet. Add ginger, and wow! You have fantastic salt-free soup. Buy a 10cm bit of ginger root from the greengrocer, cut off a couple of centimetres, grate them into the veg and water while still cold and when the everything is cooked blitz it into the most delicious home-made soup you could imagine. Reynard + ginger = soup heaven! Aaaaaah…

 

[Reynard]

I'm at one with Reynard, that's the way to go with soup. I would underline his 'Hold the salt' comment. Most stock cube makers pile in the salt because it is cheap and tangy but not so good for your health. The wonder ingredient to make bland soup zingy is ginger. Make a soup of nothing but butternut squash and water. It is OK, it is soup, it is palatable but nothing to make you want to prefer it over a tin or a packet. Add ginger, and wow! You have fantastic salt-free soup. Buy a 10cm bit of ginger root from the greengrocer, cut off a couple of centimetres, grate them into the veg and water while still cold and when the everything is cooked blitz it into the most delicious home-made soup you could imagine. Reynard + ginger = soup heaven! Aaaaaah…

Last time I looked, the plumbing was most definitely female

Butternut squash and roasted garlic...

Out of curiosity, I've looked at the stock cubes in my cupboard - Tesco own brand, Knorr and Vifon (a Polish brand) and they're actually much of a muchness in terms of actual salt content. But I do have to cook with low salt on account of mum's meds, so I tend to err on the side of less rather than more. Though I've found that if you put enough other flavourings, you don't notice there being less salt.

What I have found re stock cubes is that some are actually rather tasteless. I really recommend the Vifon chicken stock cubes, they've got a lovely flavour that knocks the socks off the big brands.

 

[Once a Wheeler]

Last time I looked, the plumbing was most definitely female

All my apologies for mis-gendering you. It was Reynard which mislead me. In all the old Reynard stories Reynard is a male fox; plus in French, renard is also a male fox, the female being renarde. Of course, Reynard exists as a family name in English which is used by both sexes, so your adoption of the screen name is entirely correct. Thanks for pointing out the error.

 

[BrumJim]

As per a lot of the comments above, I would go for herbs above spices in a vegetable soup, unless you want to go for mulligatawny.

Which ones? Depends on the veg, but you can't go wrong with a bit of origano or thyme, or both.

Spices? I like the ginger idea. There is nothing that can't be improved with a bit of ginger, but given my hair colour, I would say that, wouldn't I?