Make the old feel new with creative flourishes, from miso paste to crunchy bacon and swirls of cheese, as perfected by the Good Food team.
The Good Food team
If you’re a keen soup maker, chances are you have a handful of go-to recipes you lean on to get you through chilly evenings. They’re comforting and reliable, but let’s be honest, after a time, even the best-loved dish can start to feel a bit humdrum.
So, how do you rev up your favourites without starting from scratch? I’ve enlisted members of the Good Food team to share the ways they add an extra dash of magic to some of our most-clicked recipes.
In other words, here’s how to fall in love with your favourite soup recipes all over again.
Roslyn Grundy, Good Food recipe editor
Rob Palmer; STYLING: Emma Knowles
French onion soup a la French dip
Do you rush to finish your French onion soup before those golden cheesy toasts go soft and soggy? Save yourself the burnt upper lip and make a buttery cheese toastie, which is great for plunging into the soup like a French dip sandwich.
My other tip is to use a mandoline to slice your onions. Big, chunky onions are pas chic, while fine strips will make this humble peasant dish feel special (as will a soup bowl with “eared” handles). Erina Starkey
Bean there, done that (deliciously!)
Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s white bean, cavolo nero and parmesan soup already ticks plenty of boxes. Substantial and wholesome? Check. Wallet-friendly? Check (it’s a classic cucina povera dish). Quick? Yep, using canned cannellini beans is a big time-saver.
So, how to improve on this already excellent recipe? Three ways. I roasted the garlic to deepen its flavour, adding it at step 1. Then, while the oven was on, I made some kale chips to scrunch and add at the end for extra texture. The finishing touch? A squirt of lemon juice to brighten the flavour. Roslyn Grundy
Pumpkin soup, but give it a Thai spin
I like my food spicy and powerful, so I’ve taken that approach with arguably the most loved soup of all.
I started with Karen Martini’s excellent roast pumpkin soup, but added lemongrass and makrut lime leaf, and swapped Malaysian spices for Thai ones. You could use a curry paste, or whatever you have in the cupboard.
To dial up the umami, I stirred in miso paste and nutritional yeast. I also added a dash of coconut cream rather than cream, but cream of any kind isn’t essential. A squeeze of lime juice at the end is, though. Sarah Norris
Loaded potato soup with extra punch
With my strong Irish connections, anything potato-related ranks high on my love list, and soup is no exception. Katrina Meynink’s loaded potato soup with roast potatoes and porcini salt supplies the creamy, fluffy comfort I crave throughout winter, with added crunch. While porcini salt adds a genius umami boost, it’s not one of my pantry staples. Crispy bacon or prosciutto, however, almost always is, and it makes a fantastic crumbled topping. For a luxurious finishing touch, swirl in some creamy blue cheese, ideally Irish Cashel Blue. Andrea McGinniss
Even more lemony chicken and orzo stew
Danielle Alvarez loves lemons so much that she named her first cookbook Always Add Lemon. I also love lemons, especially in winter when the citrus season peaks, and while this soupy stew already takes the juice and zest from two of ’em, I say why not use three? A little more zing will get you through the coldest midweek nights.
With a brief to stick to a budget when creating this recipe, Danielle used frozen spinach. But with so many excellent greens available right now, I’ll usually swap in cavolo nero or silverbeet instead. A back-of-the-cupboard can of cannellini beans is also a nifty way to thicken the soup and stretch it a little further, and you can have delicious success using pearl barley instead of orzo. Callan Boys
Chicken noodle soup with a (spicy) twist
Admittedly, I went a bit rogue on this one. I’ll always find a way to crank up the heat in any given culinary pursuit, and soup is no exception. Arabella Forge’s cold-busting chicken soup served as a solid base recipe for adding flourishes from Jill Dupleix’s fragrant chicken and rice noodle soup.
I swapped the lentils for flat rice noodles, added spongy puffed tofu to soak up the broth, then enlisted lemongrass, sesame oil, fresh chilli and fish sauce for extra oomph. I also omitted parsley and turmeric in favour of extra chilli, coriander and a squeeze of lime, to serve.
The result? A rich, tangy, spicy, Vietnamese pho hybrid that bears little resemblance to either of the originals but is just as good. Emily Holgate
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