Browsing: ethical soup

Who ever said there is no such thing as a free lunch had obviously never thought of Soup Club!

If you’ve been keeping up to date with last week’s Soup Challenge here at Ethical Superstore you’ll know that five brave souls took up the challenge of preparing and providing lunch for their colleagues one day a week; thus five mouths were fed and they only had to dip into their pocket once.

Not only was last week great fun, but each lunch time was so much more relaxing and enjoyable simply by taking half an hour away from our desks to sit around a table together and share a warm, hearty, homemade meal.

Conversation was flowing, recipes were passed around, and compliments were bounding forth for each chef and every soup. Perhaps most importantly though, in these tough economic times where your ethical purchasing decisions may be put under a little more pressure than usual, we proved that you can eat, and indeed eat well, both on a budget and whilst upholding your ethics.

All soups fulfilled the criteria of having “Ethical Credentials”, whether this was by including locally produced or seasonal vegetables, organic ingredients, or fair trade fodder in their recipes. As well as this, they all scored highly for taste; proving that ethically produced soup, made on a budget does not have to compromise on flavour. Finally, they were all scored at least 2 out of 3 in terms of value for money.

With the cost for each vat of soup (including a side dish in many cases!) averaging out at less than £4, each participant in the Soup Challenge left Soup Club with a renewed vigour to make their own lunch, share their dinner, and produce ethical food safe in the knowledge that it will not only save them money, but will contribute to a sense of relaxation and community come lunch time.

Just to recap, we started last week with John’s Carrot & Coriander, followed by Elaine and her Moroccan Carrot & Lentil, Wednesday’s soup was provided by Ben who made a Spicy Winter Veg, Twanna brought Organic Pea & Bacon to the table and we closed proceedings with Dan and his Spicy Tomato soup.

So, here’s the bit they’ve all been waiting for, as independent adjudicator I can confirm the final scores:

Read the rest of Ethical SOUPerStore: The Verdict »

Tomato Soup With A Kick!

With the pressure firmly on, it was my turn to step up to the (hot)plate and deliver a bowl of super soup.  Although I fancy myself as a bit of a budding Jamie Oliver in the kitchen, I have only ever made two big pans of soup before; one was the test run for this dish, and the other was the dish itself.

The competition this week has been fierce; John Torode and Gregg Wallace (by the way, what exactly is an ‘ingredient expert’? Isn’t he just a freeloading greengrocer?) would have been salivating like Bloodhounds at the earlier offerings. I couldn’t let the week simply dissipate with an uninspired offering, and the bar had been set extremely high. A touch of the jitters had set in at this point.

So to the soup. I decided to whip up a Spicy Tomato concoction – but with a twist. Now, this isn’t the kind of twist that was popularized in the Christmas special of The Royal Family where Dave and Denise lumped a knob of Stork into mashed carrots, it was a touch more adventurous than that.

First I got the carrots, onions, red peppers and garlic and chopped them finely. I lashed them into a pan of hot olive oil, where they were left to soften.  Next I had to don a pair of gloves used only by employees at Sellafield, as the chills were brought out and finely diced and added to the pot. Seasoning was added at this stage, a pinch of salt & pepper and some organic spices (basil and thyme).

Read the rest of Ethical Soup-er Store Finale! »