Hot or cold, homemade soups are a good alternative to freeze dried food at a campsite.
The following soups can be served either hot or cold. They can be vacuum sealed in a bag and then frozen. Later, the soups can be put into your pack and allowed to thaw as you walk. Then when you get to your destination, you can either serve the soup cold spooned straight out of your home-made satchel. Or you can simply pop the bag into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes to heat through. Another option is to empty the contents of the soup satchel into a pot and heat the soup up on a lightweight stove. Rest assured that the soup tastes great cold, and that is the easiest way to prepare it, no cooking needed.
Green Pea Soup with gremolata
This is a beautifully tasting pea soup that is topped with golden crunchy citrus flavoured gremolata. Gremolata is a crunchy bread crumb herby topping that is spooned over the top of your pea soup. The gremolata can be put into a small plastic bag and sprinkled over the soup just before eating.
4 cups vegetable stock
½ onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
a generous pinch of dried thyme
500g peas, either fresh or frozen
freshly ground pepper
In the home kitchen, in a medium sized saucepan, stir the stock, onion, garlic and thyme. Bring this to a gentle simmer and continue to cook for about ten minutes. Add the peas to the saucepan and cook until the peas are tender. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Process (pulse) the pea mixture using a food processor until the soup is of the desired thickness. Alternatively you could push the mixture through a sieve. Season the soup to taste with freshly ground pepper. Allow the pea soup to cool completely before vacuum sealing it as a satchel and then freezing.
Gremolata
Gremolata is an option to the pea soup. To make the gremolata, heat the oil in a heavy based frypan. When the oil is hot, add the breadcrumbs, parsley and lemon zest. Stir-fry until the breadcrumbs are golden. Serve the soup in individual bowls and top with a handful of the lemon infused gremolata.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
zest of one lemon
Vichyssoise
Vichyssoise is simply a tasty and filling leek and potato soup. It’s easy to make and traditionally served with crispy bacon and chopped chives. Fake bacon bits can be substituted for the bacon or you can use crunchy croutons or even some muesli to give a textural difference.
2 tablespoons butter
2 leeks, white part and the tender green part
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into a small dice
3 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves or a good pinch dried thyme
1 cup long life cream
Freshly ground salt and pepper
3 tablespoons chopped chives
1 tablespoon fake bacon or a handful of golden croutons
At home, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium high heat. Slice the white part and just the start of the green part of the leeks thinly. Add the sliced leeks to the melted butter in the saucepan. Stir well to coat the sliced leeks in the butter and then cook until the leeks have softened. Add the diced potatoes, vegetable stock and the thyme to the leeks in the saucepan. Lower the heat, under the saucepan, to a very gentle simmer and continue to cook until the potatoes are tender.
Allow the soup to cool slightly before processing the soup to a puree.
You can do this using either a blender (very smooth consistency), stick blender (not quite as smooth as a blender) or a potato masher (chunky and rustic). Add the long life cream to the potato and leek puree and stir well. Season to taste with freshly ground salt and pepper. Allow the soup to cool completely before vacuum sealing and freezing. Vichyssoise is meant to be served cold.