I had to scratch around in my stores to find a can of haricot beans to make this makeshift version of minestrone. I doubt there is a definitive recipe although I think haricot and broken up pasta are defining ingredients in this chunky vegetable soup. I had carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic and bacon, using marjoram,…

Rachel Roddy’s instagram (@rachelaliceroddy) photo of celery, lined up in a gratin dish, en route to becoming Jane Grigson’s celery gratin prompted this latest take on a favourite gratin of mine, leeks wrapped in prosciutto. This in turn is based on a French brasserie dish, often made with chicory. Because leeks are tricky to slice…

This is without a doubt one of the simplest, most delicious soups I know. It’s called Spanish Chickpea Soup in my book The Trifle Bowl and Other Tales (pg 234) but I think this title sums it up instantly and very precisely. Describing it as liquid hummus gives you an idea of what to expect…

A packet of red split lentils is useful for soups because it softens quickly, is receptive to all manner of seasonings and very filling. Here it’s chivvied up with garlic, chilli and cumin, a spicy, hauntingly aromatic big thick bowlful with orange Romano pepper and carrot. As so often the case, the soup begins with…

Chorizo, as followers of my recipes will know, is one of my standbys, a useful sausage to perk up all manner of things from scrambled egg to pizza. Here it brings its spicy, meatiness to a sausage-meagre stew that is thick with vegetables – onion, mushroom, carrot and tomato – and creamy white beans. The…

My old boss Tony Elliott likes to tease me about my predilection for chorizo so I’m thinking of him as I fry slivers cut from a whole sausage turning them into irresistible chips. They make a transforming garnish for this very simple store cupboard soup, just onion ad garlic softened in butter and vegetable oil…

Cauliflower makes wonderful soups and teaming it with lemon to enhance and subdue it’s brassica undertones works brilliantly. It’s an idea to play around with, adding cheese and liquidising it to make a Cauliflower Cheese soup, adding scraps of ham or stick with this combination. Like so many soups it begins with onion and garlic,…

This is a soup to make if you have cooked a ham joint and had the good sense to save the cooking water. Trimmings from the ham bolster the thick, chunky soup, loaded with carrot, leek and giant wholewheat cous cous to turn it into more of a meal. It’s the sort of soup I…

It’s a comforting thought to have a batch of ragu in fridge or freezer, ready to be whipped into so many different meals. With pasta, obviously, over baked potatoes, sandwiched by mash to make a superior Hachis Parmentier or topped with mash for a luxury cottage pie. It is ideal, too, for lasagne, inside a…