The simplest of soups; with this recipe you can use any kind of vegetable you may have in your fridge or store cupboard. It only takes a moment to prepare and is ready in about 30 minutes. You can choose to finely chop your vegetable or purée into a delicious thick soup.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 potatoes*
• 1 leek *
• 750ml of vegetable or chicken stock (we like to use Marigolds vegetable bouillon powder)
• A good pinch of thyme, salt and pepper for seasoning

* try instead of adding leek and potatoes; to add a tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 tbs of tomato purée and season with basil and oregano.

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and season; salt helps the vegetables release their juices, which helps stop them browning. Cover and turn the heat right down. Cook the vegetables gently (this is called 'sweating') until soft - up to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the potatoes, which will both flavour and thicken the soup, and stir for a minute. Add the thyme, pepper and stock. Simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes or till the potatoes are soft. **

Remove from the heat and blend the ingredients using a hand blender or pour into a soup blender

Serve with crusty bread – enjoy

Note: to serve as a rustic meal, leave out blending the soup and stir in a tin of rinsed haricot beans or borlotti beans and simmer for five minutes before serving in bowls