15 minute Soup From Scratch for a Dollar

"I remember during the war" my old grandfather used to say; "we had to make do with whatever we could grow in our own garden". He was right, of course, during the days of food rationing, people grew whatever they could in their own backyards or on their "allotments".

They grew mainly vegetables for their own consumption. Home-grown veggies were cheap, nutritious and helped fill dinner plates when other food sources were scarce. I came across one wartime recipe for carrot soup that I tried just because it sounded intriguing.

A good soup is prepared from a quality stock, seasoning and a main flavour ingredient (in this case, carrots). Stock is a liquid prepared by boiling meat bones or vegetables. But what if you don't have any stock and you want to make soup in a hurry - for example; in just fifteen minutes?

This recipe is the solution. Grab four large carrots from your garden (okay, maybe from the supermarket produce section). You now have all the ingredients you need; in fifteen minutes you will have soup.

Ingredients

• 4 large carrots
• 4 cups water
• Seasoning

Preparation

• Peel and dice the carrots and boil, or preferably, steam until tender; do not discard the water!
• Pour the cooked carrots and a little of the water used in cooking into a blender and blend until smooth
• Return the carrots to a saucepan, add water and bring to a simmer
• Stir in salt, pepper and a little ginger
• Remove from the heat and stir in a little milk

John's Notes
Jamie Oliver might shake his head in disbelief and Gordon Ramsay would curse me out of his kitchen. But, damn it, this was a very fine and tasty soup. The recipe calls for the water in which the carrots were cooked to be used as a rudimentary stock ... and it works!