Brussel sprouts are exactly like the marmite of the vegetable world.
You either love ’em or hate ’em.
As a child and young adult I could not stand them. Every Christmas my Mum would sneakily cook them and serve them mixed with savoy cabbage, but with their unique flavour, I could always detect the sprouts on my plate! However, during my 30’s something changed and now I like brussel sprouts and I happily serve them Christmas Day with some smoked bacon and chestnuts and they are delicious!
Usually I use up my leftover sprouts in some bubble and squeak after Christmas Day, but this year, for a change, I decided to make some soup with them as I had quite a lot left. This soup will not be for everyone because it is very sprout like, as in has a strong sprout flavour. However, it is very nice and my OH and I enjoyed it and the added smokiness from the bacon and the added nuttiness of the chestnuts, makes it so good. It is also impossible to make this soup look pretty – it is what it is, but it is frugal and tasty and very easy to make.
I made my soup using my new Morphy Richards Soup Maker, which is very easy and all you need to make 4 servings of this soup is:
1 onion, chopped
700g of cooked sprouts, smoked bacon and chestnuts
2 vegetable oxo cubes
1.3 litres of water
black pepper
Using the soup maker means I only had to place everything inside it, switch to smooth soup mode and press go. It took just 21 minutes to make and then I have a hot, smooth and tasty soup ready to serve and eat! However, this recipe can easily be adapted to make on the stove, simply fry off the onions in some oil or butter, add the left over sprouts and the stock and bring to the boil and then blend to make a soup. It can also be made using sprouts, bacon and chestnuts that are not leftovers ie. cooked especially to make the soup, and this would possibly make the soup look a bit more green in colour too!
So good was this soup that my poorly OH ate the lot (bar one small serving that I had), over 2 days and said it was delicious!
After all of the indulgence that Christmas brings it is nice to get back to basics and normality and eat some hearty and healthy food, that is low in fat and yet still tasty. Brussel sprouts are very good for you and full of vitamins, and are one of the low-glycemic nutritious vegetables that should be considered in weight reduction programs and contain zero cholesterol. Also, brussel sprouts contain a glucoside called sinigrin, and early laboratory studies suggest that sinigrin helps protect from colon cancers by destroying pre-cancerous cells. Plus of course they are an excellent source of vitamin C.
I appreciate that this soup will not be for everyone, but if you like the taste of brussel sprouts then you will love it, trust me!
I was sent a soup maker and a food voucher to cover the cost of the ingredients in exchange for creating a recipe.
Hayley @ Snap Happy Bakes
I may have to give this a go! I’m not a great lover of sprouts, but I do like them when made with bacon and chestnuts, so as I’m eating healthily at the moment, I think this is on my to try list! #recipeoftheweek
Emily @amummytoo
A very clever use of sprouts. Sounds lovely. #recipeoftheweek
Jo
Lovely idea for a soup. Thank you for entering #SuperSoup
Food to get you in the spirit - The Food Assembly's Blog
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