Making Vegetable Soups in a Vitamix Blender

Vegetable Soup in a Vitamix 5000 Blender 

The high power Vitamix range of food blenders have been around for nearly 100 years. We bought our model 5000 around ten years ago after seeing a demonstration at the Malvern Three Counties Showground in 2009 or 2010. Certainly not the cheapest on the market but probably the best value because of their longevity (7-year warranty). They will chop, blend, and smooth virtually anything and you can make your own peanut/almond butter, houmous, nut milks, doughs, batters, sorbets and ice creams, smoothies and, the subject of this post, soups. It is, also, very easy to use and clean although a little noisy.

Cream of Courgette Soup (vegan)

  

This is the easiest soup to make and requires no pre-cooking. Simply pop the ingredients into the blender in the order given below and whizz up a hot soup in 7 minutes on high speed.

400g courgettes (wash and chop roughly)

50g cashew nuts

1 tbsp bouillon powder or paste

1 clove garlic

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

1 litre cold water

Notes:

(i) if you prefer a thinner 'cup-of-soup' then reduce courgettes to 300g

(ii) cashew nuts give the soup its creamy texture and flavour

(iii) no need to peel or crush the garlic, just throw it all in

(iv) the garlic & herb flavour is more intense so use less than you would in conventional soup preparation

(v) bouillon adds body as well as flavour. No additional salt needed.

(vi) the high-speed blades heat the contents up to about 70 ℃ (friction)

Leek and Potato Soup (vegan)

Preparation time is a little longer but well worth the effort. It is very important to part-cook the potatoes before adding to the Vitamix otherwise the soup quickly thickens and reduces the mixing speed.

350g potatoes, peeled and chopped

250g leeks, prepared and sliced

50g cashew nuts

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp bouillon paste/powder

1 tsp dried mixed herbs

rapeseed oil for frying

1.2 litres cold water

1 tsp teriyaki sauce/soy sauce (optional)

1 tbsp pickled Jalopeno peppers (optional)

Cook potatoes in microwave oven (750W) for 5 minutes and fry the leeks in oil. Add potato and leeks to Vitamix followed by the other ingredients. Run Vitamix on high speed for 7 minutes and your hot soup is ready.

Notes:

(i) use onions, spring onions or chives if you don't have leeks

(ii) 1.2 litres is the maximum volume of the Vitamix 5000

(iii) the Jalopeno peppers were grown in my polytunnel and pickled at home

(iv) other herb/spice combinations work well. For example, try frying some cumin or smoked paprika with the leeks

 

Spicy Roast Squash Soup (vegan)

In this recipe, I have used home-roasted squash from the freezer.

600g roast squash (partially defrosted in microwave)

half a large onion (125g)

50g cashew nuts

1 tbsp bouillon powder/paste

2 tsp cumin (ground)

1 tbsp ginger (ground)

rapeseed oil for frying

1 litre cold water

Fry the onion and spices in oil and add to squash in the blender. Add cashew nuts, bouillon and water and blend on high for 7 minutes.

Notes:

(i) A thick winter soup. Reduce the amount of squash to give a thinner soup

Leftover Soup (vegan)

Soup is a great way to use up any leftovers to produce a nutritious meal or snack. Raw courgettes (whole, unpeeled), pumpkin, squash or marrows (peeled and deseeded) make great bases for Vitamix soups; however, if you roast them you can get a richer flavour and they freeze well for later use. Roots and tubers (potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, etc) need to be part-cooked - microwaving 400g for 5 minutes on full power is sufficient. Include stock (cube, powder, paste or home-made) and cashew nuts and you have the soup base which you can flavour however you want. Smoked paprika, cumin, chillies, garlic and mixed herbs are my preferred flavourings. This recipe was made from those sad vegetables you always find when clearing out the salad drawer in the fridge.

2 floppy sticks of celery (chopped)

2 bendy carrots (washed, topped and tailed)

2 pliable parsnips (peeled)

1 winter onion from the garden

50g cashew nuts

1tbsp Knorr's vegetable bouillon paste

1 clove garlic, au naturelle

Jalopeno peppers (pickled), to taste

1 litre of cold water

Fry onions and celery in a little oil. Microwave (750W) carrots and parsnips for 5 minutes. Put everything in the blender for 7 minutes on high power.

Delicious!