Gran's traditional veggie soup
The senior bloke and I met with friends for a quiet drink yesterday afternoon that ended up being a big night out, pizza at the bar and even karaoke. We didn't make it home til past midnight. Today has therefore been a bit slow and sluggish and being the middle of winter a traditional, warming soup was definitely the order of the day. This soup is made with a bacon hock and loads of winter vegetables. It reminds me of my mother in-laws veggie soup - hence the name. Ingredients A bacon hock 1 onion finely chopped 5 carrots grated 4 parsnips peeled and grated 1/2 swede peeled and grated 1/4 medium pumpkin peeled and grated 1/4 bunch celery chopped to a fine dice 1 cup pearl barley 1 litre vegetable stock (or 4 cups water and 4 teaspoons vegetable stock powder) Salt White pepper Freshly ground black pepper to serve Method Place the bacon hock in a very large pot with 3 litres of water and bring to the boil. Add all the vegetables and barley and simmer for an hour or two -...