My Cure Everything Winter Soup

This soup is a real heart-warmer, ideal for colder days or if you're under the weather. My poor mum has been suffering one of the flu bugs that's on the rounds at the moment so I rustled up a huge vat for her and she loved it. This recipe does have weapon strength amounts of garlic and ginger in which can be reduced if wished but I find it adds warmth and depth to the soup plus I'm pretty sure it'll kill anything going!

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes
2 medium sweet potatoes
2 large carrots
1 parsnip
1 small swede
2 onions
2 inch fresh ginger
6 cloves of garlic
generous handful of garden peas
2 tsp stock powder (I use bouillon)
water to cover
4 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Find the biggest pan you have, you're going to need it. Chop all the root vegetables into bite sizes pieces, around 2 cm square and set to the side. Place the pan over a medium heat with the olive oil in. Dice the onion and place in the pan when the oil starts to sizzle. Peel the garlic and either use a garlic press or grate into the pan and saute with the onions. I roughly diced the ginger leaving the pieces around 2 mm, but it could also be grated, and add to the onions and garlic.

Saute until the onions are translucent. Add in the root vegetables and gently fry stirring continuously for a couple of minutes. Add the water and stock and leave to simmer for around 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Take a potato masher and gently mash the soup to break down some of the vegetables leaving some pieces intact. I find this thickens the soup while offering a really lovely texture. Add in the garden peas and simmer for a further 10 minutes until the peas are cooked through.

Served with a huge slice of crusty bread and far too much butter, this will make anyone feel better. If you give this a try please comment or take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife