Vegetable Soup

This vegetable soup recipe has been in my family for years, certainly my Grandmother passed it on to my mother and my mother onto me, and I am pretty certain my Great Grandmother probably passed it onto my Grandmother. Originally it was a french vegetable soup, my mother adapted it to her tastes and I have done the same. My husband although not entirely adverse to having a vegetarian dish, prefers to have a little meat with his meals, so I throw in a handful of chunky bacon bits, or cut up frankfurter sausages. It kind of negates from being vegetable soup, but hey ho, if my husband is happy and it tastes good, why not right? I suppose the special thing for me in all this, despite the changes, this is a recipe from my past but it signifies my future. I realise that seems pathetic and maybe even incredibly melodramatic after all it's just soup...... But this "just soup," has been passed down for          generations and I will eventually pass it onto my children and grandchildren...                                                                    

Vegetable Soup

1 leek

1 carrot

1cm wide slice of celery root or a 1/4 fennel

1/2 a turnip

1 onion

2-3 potatoes

butter

500ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

 100ml sour cream

1. Wash, peel and chop all the vegetables, into bite sized pieces. Gently heat the butter in a large pan, then add all the vegetables and saute gently for about 5-10 minutes.                                             

2. Add the veg stock, bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer gently until the veggies are cook through.                                                                                                                                     

3. Drain and retain the liquid, mash the vegetables (mash a lot if you want a smooth soup, or leave it chunky entirely up to you) return the liquid, do it a little bit at a time, until you have the soup consistency you like, some people like a really thick soup, you can always add extra water if the 500ml isn't enough, but you can't take it out once it's in.                                                               

5. If you are adding any pre-cooked meat now is the time to do it, salt and pepper to taste and the sour cream, return to the heat and warm through, but do not boil.                                                            

The vegetables are just a guide line, as you can see from the photo I also added sweetcorn to this soup.