I love making soup and sometimes I think I like making it more than I like eating it! it is so easy and needs such a minimal amount of different ingredients, an is really easy to rescue if it goes wrong.
- Too watery? Thicken it with pulses or cornflour or ordinary flour or cream or potato
- Too thick? Dilute it with water or stock or wine or left-over beer or wine or milk or cream or beer or cold tea… or wine… or beer…
- Tasteless? Open the cupboard and throw in anything which comes to hand
- Doesn’t taste right? See above
- Looks insipid? Look in the baking department and find some vegetable colouring – or add beetroot
- Lumpy? Put it in the blender
- Slimy? throw in something lumpy like peas or sweetcorn or lentils… (slimy is the most difficult thing to rectify)
- Too spicy hot? Add yoghurt, cream, milk, potato, dilute
- Too salty? Add potato
- Not enough? Raid the fridge, freezer, tinned goods
- Too much? Freeze (but remember to label it – it’s a bit disconcerting to think you’re defrosting stewed apple and its soup – or vice-versa)
Lois Elsden 