Culture

I decided to call this soup hipster soup as when made in its purest form, from the sad-looking veges at the bottom of your fridge, it costs you next you nothing but somehow taste delicious. You can also make it wannabe hipster soup by buying and making it with new veges and then dressing it up in that $420 moth-eaten designer cardigan also known as blue vein cheese.

I am ashamed to say that I made wannabe hipster soup. I had to go and buy my vegetables for it – mainly because my shelf of the fridge resembled a barren wasteland. I did manage to find some yellowing cabbage, however ...

Use up any vegetables you have lying around. The recipe below is merely a guideline. Use a drained tin of chickpeas to add substance and body to your soup. Throw in a couple of chopped up potatoes and kumara too so it thickens nicely. Frozen spinach portions are a really cheap way to add greens to your soup without the cost. You could be super hip and add the kale that you purchased at the farmers’ market on Saturday, too.

Stirring in some crumbled blue cheese makes all the difference. I’m not usually a blue fan but in this it is exceptionally delicious. Wait for it to go on special or use the Edam that has been sitting in the back of the fridge since late last year.

Ingredients
(Makes a really big stock pot’s worth)

• 3 large carrots, diced


• 3 stalks celery, diced


• 2 onions (red or brown), diced


• 6 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 leek, diced


• 3 handfuls spinach (fresh or frozen)


• 4 medium sized potatoes, chopped into chunks


• 3 small kumara, chopped into chunks


• 1 can chickpeas, drained


• 1 tablespoon olive oil


• 4 cups chicken stock


• 4 cups boiling water


• 1 teaspoon chilli powder


• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper


• 1 teaspoon salt


• Freshly ground pepper


• 50g blue cheese plus extra for topping

Also try adding pumpkin, cabbage, kale, parsnip or broccoli.


Method

1. In the olive oil, sauté the onion and garlic until translucent. Add in the carrot, leek and celery and sauté with the chilli, cayenne and salt until slightly softened. Throw in the potatoes, kumara and chickpeas and stir to coat them in the chilli.


2. Pour over the chicken stock and water then leave to simmer away for half an hour until the vegetables are all soft. Throw in the spinach and cook for a few more minutes so it is cooked.


3. Use a stick blender and blend until smooth.


4. Stir through the crumbled cheese and season well with pepper. Serve with a further sprinkling of blue cheese and you are good to go!