I’ll eat soup any day. A consommé or creamy, spicy, rich, hearty, chunky, nutritious…nothing more satisfying than slowly sipping a hot soup spoon by spoon.

A quick, nutritious vegetable soup for an ordinary week night. Or for that time when you’re alone at home and feel like snuggling in front of the fireplace with a book or an old movie. And you make a big enough quantity, because tomorrow it will be even better.

Chunky vegetable soup.

No quantities are given. Just open up your veggie basket and throw a peak in the fridge, fiddle in the pantry and put together what you have available or feel in the mood for. I can tell you what I did.

I sauteéd some chopped shallots and leeks. I then added the chopped vegetables I dug out of the pantry –  2 tomatoes, 2 carrots, a handful of green beans, 1 sweet potato and a few mushrooms. I boiled about 3 large cups of water with 2 organic vegetable stock cubes and poured it over the vegetables, leaving it to soflty simmer for about 45 minutes.

Then I decided to give some substance to the soup, by throwing in a fistful of quinoa, a tablespoonful of sundried tomato bits. I also found some spinach leaves which I couldn’t leave behind and added them at the last minute. After some 10 minutes more, I tested for seasoning and drizzled lemon juice, wine vinegar and salt and pepper to my taste.

The fire was ablaze with invitation and I quickly cleaned the dishes, lit my tealights, called the cats, served myself a a generous helping of soup, drizzled some olive oil and cuddled up to watch “Fiddler on the Roof”, while sipping my soup spoon by spoon.