Home Made: Good, honest food made easy

Pearl barley, Savoy cabbage and chorizo soup (#ulink_19764d2e-728c-5599-9f9d-630f7dc15e8a)

This hearty soup will chase away damp, cold days, especially if you make it with a spicy chorizo sausage. It goes down especially well with my lot after football and swimming lessons when they always come home ravenously hungry.

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

2 sprigs of thyme

250g/9oz chorizo sausages, skinned and chopped into bite-sized pieces

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Savoy cabbage, shredded

100g/3

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oz pearl barley

squeeze of lemon juice

1 handful of chopped fresh parsley, chopped

salt and black pepper

Serves: 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: about 1 hour

1 Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a low-medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and thyme and cook gently for about 5 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add the sausages and fry for 4-5 minutes until the oil begins to run. Meanwhile, put on the kettle to boil.

2 Add the cabbage and pearl barley to the sausages and pour in enough boiling water to cover everything generously. Bring to bubbling, then reduce the heat and cook gently for 50-60 minutes, until the barley is tender; top up with more hot water if the mixture gets too dry.

3 Add a squeeze of lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss in the parsley, stir through and serve in warm bowls with lots of crusty bread with butter.

Sweetcorn and coconut soup (#ulink_d6c8d083-f65c-57f2-a1e7-ba92fe94235a)

This is the most amazing storecupboard soup. I have started to keep a bag of frozen sweetcorn kernels in my freezer as an emergency vegetable, which now doubles as the base of this delicious and quick-to-prepare soup. I like it fairly thick, but if you prefer a slightly thinner texture, simply add a little more milk.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

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tsp cayenne pepper

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

500g/1lb 2oz frozen sweetcorn

400ml/14fl oz semi-skimmed milk

400ml tin of coconut milk

1 good-quality chicken stock cube

salt and black pepper

Serves: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

1 Choose a large saucepan with a lid. Heat the oil in the pan on a low-medium heat. Add the onion and cook gently for 8-10 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add the garlic and cayenne pepper and stir for a couple of minutes. Throw in the carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes more until just beginning to soften.

2 Add the sweetcorn. Pour in the milk and coconut milk and bring to the boil. Crumble in the stock cube and stir well, then reduce the heat so that the soup is just simmering. Pop on the lid and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the carrots are tender.

3 Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little, then liquidize in batches. Return to the saucepan, season with salt and pepper to taste and reheat gently. Serve in warm bowls.

WHY NOT TRY …

Garnishing with chopped chives before serving.

One of the most wonderfully comforting things about home, for me, has always been its predictability; there’s a real sense of security in knowing what to expect. This is a feeling I grew up with and one that I try to give my children, too.

When I was growing up, Monday was always soup day. I’d rush home and I’d smell the delicious aroma of the soup even before I could see the big bubbling pot on the dark green aga. This was my favourite meal of the week, and I would eat loads of it. The soup would last for a few good meals and would be added to and reheated over and over again until it was all gone.

I think soup is even better when it has been reheated, perhaps because this is the way we always ate it at home, but also because the flavours develop more every time it is cooked. I always prepare soup in advance, and it’s a brilliantly easy supper if the kids are coming in at different times – on those nights I’m very happy to be reheating and eating my dinner when everyone else has had theirs and gone to bed!

One of the best things about making soup is that it doesn’t need a lot of planning. No two soups are ever the same in our house – they’ll usually be made from whatever odds and ends are in the fridge and cupboards; but even if you do use a recipe, you can easily swap certain ingredients you haven’t got for others that you have. You can’t go wrong with a bit of invention, and you can always get a good meal seemingly from out of nowhere.

Spicy lentil and cannellini bean soup (#ulink_ec98f116-be6c-58e8-a85e-356a91bcd962)

This is a fantastic winter soup, perfect for popping in a flask and taking on a bracing walk.

2 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon

1 tbsp olive oil