RECIPES: Vegetable Soup

A basic recipe for a tasty, healthy soup. As with almost all of my recipes you can add or subtract whatever you like. Want more spice, ramp it up. Don't like fennel, who cares, don't use it. Want it completely vegetarian. Use different stock. Cooking is simple. Really.
Here is what I used.

1 onion
1 leek
3 carrots
3 ribs celery
1/2 fennel bulb
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 carton of beef stock
1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
2 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

I just love the way the fennel bulb smells and looks.

Cut off the green top of the leek and throw it away.

Cut the leek in half lengthwise and rinse it off. See the dirt inside this piece? Grit and sand. Yuck. Rinse it well between each layer. You may notice some of the outer layers are very tough. You can discard those as well.

Dice up all the vegetables and the garlic. Add butter to the pot with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. If you need more you can add it later.

Saute the vegetables until softened and translucent. A little bit of caramelizing in the pot is fine but you don't want this brown.

Add in the carton of stock, Old Bay, bay leaves, salt and pepper.

Simmer this for an hour or so. You will be glad you added butter in the beginning because it will really show up in the end flavour. Serve with corn muffins or a nice crusty bread. If you want a little protein you can add some leftover chicken or have a bit of cheddar with your corn muffin.