Autumn soup with beetroot, carrot and celery

Autumn soup (well, one version) with toasted seeds and sourdough

This deep-coloured soup is delicious. Packed full of vegetables, it’s simple to chuck together and keep in the fridge, quickly heating it in a pan when time is short.

Notes on my recipe

Use your tops!

Seriously. If you have the leafy bits from the tops of your celery and beetroot, stick ’em in your soup. They taste great, they bulk out the soup, it means you’re not wasting food.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 red onion – peeled and diced
• 2 celery stalks (and tops if you have them) – chopped
• 2 carrots – chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – pressed
• 1 tin chickpeas – drained
• 3 fresh beetroot (and tops if you have them) – scrubbed and roughly chopped
• Half a head of broccoli – roughly chopped
• 3 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Olive oil
• Seeds for serving
• Bread for serving

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
2. Heat a little oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan and sweat the onion, garlic and carrots.
3. Meanwhile, put the chopped beetroot heads, celery stalks, chickpeas and broccoli on a roasting tray. Pour over some olive oil (about 3 tbsp should do the trick) and add the smoked paprika. Give the roasting tray a shake so all of the veg is coated in the oil and paprika. Roast until the beetroot is tender – this should take about 40 minutes or so. Make sure you check it and turn the veg a couple of times during cooking.
4. Add the roast veg to the saucepan, along with the stock and the celery and beetroot tops (if using).
5. Simmer the whole lot for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Blitz with a handblender. You may find that you need to add a little extra water here, depending on the size of your veg and your preferred soup consistency.
7. Season to taste.
8. Serve with toasted seeds and a good chunk of crusty sourdough.