Souper Suppers

13 ways to upgrade soups into suppers

Hello dear ones!

How is the New Year treating you?

My January kitchen is filled with bubbling cauldrons of soup casting spells over everybody’s nostrils (including the neighbours). Soup feels both comforting and bone-deep brilliant, like a hot water bottle on freezing feet.

If you missed this month’s nourishing theme, I did a special on making great stock (with or without bones), as well as a classic cauliflower soup and a fiery butternut beaut (pictured below).

There’s a sick-day ginger noodle bowl too, which feels like a defibrillator for your tonsils and your toes. Yup. The belly-bombing deliciousness of hot soup on a cold day is one of life's greatest pleasures (with the exclusion of sneezing, chihuahuas in hoodies, and Cillian Murphy obviously).

This week, we are living on bowls of this red pepper tortilla chip soup, playing with the toppings each time. It’s really easy to make, freezes well, and acts as a carrier to a whole host of serving suggestions (listed below). Think of it as one soup, with many ways to serve. Soup can be transformed into suppers by adding protein-rich toppings like grated boiled eggs, flaked salmon, or roasted walnuts and blue cheese. In this weather, we all need nourishing brews to keep us going, that preferably cook themselves under a lid while we relax into a book or a good podcast.

photo by the lovely, magnificent Joanne Murphy

Admittedly, pepper is the only vegetable that sounds like an exciting substance. But it is, in fact, the peppers’ hell-raising nieces and nephews (the chillis) responsible for pepping up moods. Chillis and their capsaicin content help our bodies to release natural endorphins in our body. I say pile them high! Expect this soup to do exactly what the name suggests – tickle our dimples silly. 

Extra fist bumps? Red, orange and yellow peppers contain plenty of beta-carotene, protective carotenoids and vitamin C, all potential allies to our immune system during Sniffle Season.

Next month, we’re building on January’s theme of nourishing bowls and broths by focusing on some of my all-time favourite vegetarian dishes; a rich Italian stew with lashings of Parmesan; a coconut and sweet potato curry with black sticky rice; and a fiery, creamy chickpea dish. My question to all you lovely readers: would you prefer a live demo in February, or a recorded one?

Love, light and peppers,

Susan Jane

x

Pepper soup with avocado, good tortilla chips and freshly sliced chilli

// *Pepper* Soup//

Makes 6-8 servings