A fresh mushroom soup with freshly picked herbs and a dollop of cream or a packed anything-goes soup with great flavour, harvested from the garden, will keep you warm during those chilly winter nights. Add dumplings and you have the proverbial icing on the cake so to speak.
What makes a good vegetable soup?
Layering flavours Start with the basics like onions, celery and carrots - the famous mirepoix of cookery school, and then build onto that with other vegetables, herbs and spices. Or start with one ingredient like potatoes for a potato soup and add onion and garlic, a little bacon (always a winner), chicken stock, cream, sour cream or yoghurt, salt and pepper and finish with some cheese, chives and Cajun seasoning.
Herbs and spices
Don't forget herbs and spices in a soup. They just add to the flavour and enhance the result. Try herbs like thyme, parsley, oregano, basil, and coriander and more unusual herbs like lovage and marjoram. Spices can include ground versions of cumin, chillies, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, coriander and more. Just be aware of using too many spices together or too much as they have a strong flavour.
Final touches
Take an ordinary soup to extraordinary levels by adding some final touches.
Try a squeeze of lemon juice, a dollop of cream or yoghurt, a layer of grated cheese, or a sprinkling of fresh herbs.
Even things like a little flaked salt or good olive oil can lift a soup and adding croutons or dumplings makes it all come together
Italian Minestrone Soup with Parmesan and Gnocchi Dumplings
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July/August 2024 من The Gardener.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July/August 2024 من The Gardener.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
FIRE AND Feathers!
On a dreary winter's day, a screen of fiery and feathery leaves puts up a fight against dullness!
GET THE ladies in!
At this time of year, early-flowering shrubs vie with each other to get the most attention. We say: Trust those with female names for frills and butterflies. They go the extra mile to flower their hearts out.
Vegetable Soups and dumplings
Vegetables make the most delicious soups and classic combinations are always a winner.
Yummy sweet potatoes for your good health
Boiled, baked or braaied, sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a delicious and healthy winter comfort food. Just a dollop of butter, a little seasoning and you are good to go.
Pretty and functional
If cooking is your main thing, you would probably be more interested in the culinary value of the three herbs and some of their varieties we are describing.
Dried Seedheads & Pods
Autumn and winter are the best times to see what flowers produce the best seedheads that can be left on the plants to feed the birds and bugs and for harvesting for dried arrangements.
SO MANY FACES and so many choices...
Whoever associated a Cotyledon orbiculata (pig's ear) with the ear of a pig obviously did not know about all the varieties and cultivars this species in the genus Cotyledon has.
COLOURFUL Cold Weather WINNERS!
If it comes to a vote, these dependable shrubs will be the top candidates for prime performance in winter and in other seasons...
What makes a garden sustainable?
It is interesting to note that the United Nations defines sustainable development as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Nurturing NATURE-The Story of Kraal Garden's Transformation
Nestled within Prince Albert's rustic embrace lies a gem that is a testament to the transformative power of human vision and nature's bounty.