4 Soup Recipes To Make This Autumn

On a chilly autumn evening, there’s nothing like a big bowl of soup to warm the cockles (ideally with a generous helping of crusty, buttery sourdough). The opportunities are endless: spicy, creamy, hearty – plus they’re a great way to use up leftover veggies and herbs you’ve got in the fridge. Here, we round up a selection of soup recipes from top chefs to try this season, from a umami mushroom concoction to a green soup that will nourish you from the outside in. Make a big batch on a Sunday, and you’re sorted for your weekday lunches.

Soup Recipes

Paul Ainsworth’s Field Mushroom Soup

Issy Croker

I could eat mushrooms every day of the week, and the umami taste of mushrooms fried in a pan is so tasty. We all know how well eggs work with mushrooms, and this is a great twist that works brilliantly either as a main meal or a starter. When that rich yolk mixes with the mushroom soup it’s truly amazing. The best poached eggs come from fresh eggs, so try and get the freshest you can.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

• 250g unsalted butter, diced
• 1 large white onion, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated or thinly sliced
• 5 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 750g field mushrooms (large flat caps), roughly sliced
• 750ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 250ml whole milk
• 50g crème fraîche
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground white pepper

For the roasted mushrooms

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25g unsalted butter
• 400g wild or cultivated mixed mushrooms
• 20g shallots, finely chopped
• 3g tarragon, stalks included, finely chopped
• 5g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Cracked black pepper

For the shallow-fried eggs

• 2 tbsp malt vinegar
• 4 eggs
• 40g plain flour
• 2 egg whites
• 40g dried breadcrumbs
• 250ml olive oil
• Extra virgin olive oil

Method:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over a high heat. Add the sliced onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf and soften the onion by covering the saucepan with a lid for 2–3 minutes, being careful not to let it catch any colour. Once the onion is soft and translucent, add the mushrooms, along
2. with a pinch of sea salt and white pepper. Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook the mushrooms until all excess moisture has evaporated and the mixture is almost dry. Add the chicken stock and milk, and stir to a simmer.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and check the seasoning. Remove the bay leaf and thyme, which can both be discarded. Blitz the soup in a liquidizer until it is smooth, then pass through a sieve to remove any lumps. Whisk in the crème fraîche, before adding lemon juice to taste. Season again with sea salt and white pepper if you feel it’s needed.
4. Next, prepare the roasted mushrooms. In a medium frying pan, heat the oil and butter over a high heat until melted and foaming. Add the mixed mushrooms, a pinch of sea salt and some cracked black pepper. After 30 seconds, stir the mushrooms with a wooden spoon – don’t shake the pan as then it can lose heat and the mushrooms will start to boil. Now add the shallots and continue to sauté until they’re golden brown. Add most of the tarragon and parsley before checking the seasoning.
5. After cooking for 2–3 minutes, spoon the mushrooms onto a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess fat, before setting aside.

Extracted from For the Love of Food by Paul’s Ainsworth (Pavilion Books)

Richard Corrigan’s Earthen Soup

Ingredients:

Dumplings

• 8 rashers of good unsmoked bacon
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp finely chopped onion
• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and chopped
• 2 ½ tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 2 ½ tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

Soup

• 1.5 litres vegetable stock
• Small bunch of fresh thyme
• Olive oil
• ½ small onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 ½ garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and neatly chopped
• 1 celery stick
• 1 medium courgette, neatly chopped
• 1 small leek, trimmed and neatly chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated Parmesan for serving

Method

1. First make the dumplings. Cut rinds off the bacon rashers; reserve the rinds for the soup. 
2. Mince the bacon very finely in a food processor – if the bacon is minced too coarsely it will not roll into dumplings and bind properly, and the dumplings will break up. Transfer the bacon to a bowl. 
3. Heat a film of oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic, and seat over a low heat until soft but not coloured. 
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and tarragon. Leave to cool, then add to the minced bacon. Season to taste with pepper.
5. Roll the mixture into walnut-sized dumplings, pressing firmly together. Keep, covered, in the fridge ready to use.
6. For the soup, put the vegetable stock in a saucepan and add the bacon rinds and thyme. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain.
7. Heat a film of oil in the saucepan, add the onion and garlic, and saute over a moderate heat for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. 
8. Add the carrots and statue for 2 minutes. Add the celery and courgette, and statue for another 2 minutes. Finally add the leek and saute for 2 more minutes. 
9. Pour the stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 7-8 minutes or until the vegetables are just tender but still a little crunchy.
10. Remove the pan from the heat and add the dumplings. Return to the heat and bring the soup almost to the boil. Simmer gently for 7 minutes.
11. Check the seasoning, then serve, sprinkled with Parmesan. 

Sat Bains’ Spinach and Watercress Soup

Ingredients:

Serves 2

• 20ml olive oil
• 25g sliced shallots
• 500ml chicken broth or water
• 50g Maris Piper potatoes, thinly sliced
• 150g chopped spinach
• 150g chopped watercress
• 4 eggs, poached for 3 minutes
• Flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan, add the sliced shallots and cook for a few minutes until soft but not coloured.
2. Now place the broth or water and the potatoes in the pan with a pinch of salt and bring up to a simmer. Turn the heat down and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, 6–8 minutes. Add the spinach and watercress and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Transfer everything to a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pan, bring up to the heat but do not boil, then taste for seasoning.
4. Ladle the soup into 2 warm bowls, top with the poached eggs and enjoy.

Tommy Banks’ Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 125g butter
• 1kg Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and sliced
• 200g onions, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced (approx. 20g in weight)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp chopped thyme
• 700ml hot chicken stock
• 150ml double cream
• 1 tbsp good-quality wholegrain mustard

Method:

1. In a large pan over medium heat, melt butter. Add the Jerusalem artichokes, onions, garlic, bay leaf and thyme and season well with salt and pepper. 
2. Sweat the veggies down, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes, or until the onions and artichokes have softened and turned translucent. 
3. Pour in the hot chicken stock, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender and the liquid has reduced substantially. 
4. Pour in double cream and bring the soup back to the boil. Remove from heat and pour into a jug blender and blend for about 10 minutes, until the soup is extremely soupy. At this point you can pass through a fine sieve if you like back into the pan. Season to taste. 
5. Divide the soup between four bowls and top with a herb oil of your choice.