Soups & Pesto with Tower Soup Maker

Soups are a big part of my diet and there is nothing better than a warming homemade soup on a cold day! Add a toasted garlic baguette or freshly baked bread and I am in heaven! That's why I couldn't say no to trying the Tower Soup Maker*. As a foodie, I simply couldn't wait to get cooking! 


As much as I love the Vitamix and silky smooth soups I can make with it within minutes, I also love chunky soups with a little bit of texture. They are more filling in my opinion. That's when the Tower Soup Maker comes in. 

It has a 1.5L capacity and it is very versatile, despite being a 'soup maker'. You can actually make many other things with it, including smoothies, milkshakes, sauces, purees, dips and cocktails. It also crushes ice perfectly! 

The way the Soup Maker works is very simple. You put roughly chopped ingredients into the machine, press the blend button to get your desired consistency, add boiling water/stock, set the timer and wait for the cycle to finish! You can blend the ingredients after adding the liquid as well. The appliance will boil the ingredients within 30-60 minutes depending on the type of soup you are making. Potatoes and big chunks of carrot take the longest time to cook, but softer veg cooks really quickly. The minimum and maximum liquid sensors and an interlocking lid make the device foolproof, so everyone can use it to create yummy food without worrying about failing.

Some might think, that a soup maker is a pointless purchase because you can cook soup on the hob, but as a mum of a very active toddler, I can tell you, that it is just fantastic! I can put the ingredients into the soup maker, walk away and come back to a lovely soup! Cooking a soup on a hob usually ends up with spillage and a big clean up operation and I have to keep checking on the soup, which is annoying. I am quite a good cook, but I still have accidents in the kitchen, because I try to do ten things at the same time.

The machine is very easy to clean and I like the fact that I can take the blade out to clean it and scoop any food out. I found the Vitamix a little bit annoying for making small amounts of purees and pesto, as a lot of it was stuck to the blades and ended up being wasted. With the Tower Soup Maker, I can scoop all my delicious pesto out and enjoy it :) After all, pesto ingredients are quite expensive, so wasting them is a big no, no for me!

I have 4 recipes to share with you today, all of them absolutely delicious and easy to follow :)

Courgette & Onion Soup
For this soup, I used 1 big courgette, 1 onion, a handful of mixed frozen veg, some frozen parsley, 800ml of veg stock, salt and pepper. You simply throw all the ingredients into the soup maker, blend them and let them cook for 30 minutes. 

Tomato and Roasted Pepper Soup
This recipe requires a little bit more prep, but it is all worth it! The only extra step is roasting some peppers, which takes 20-30 minutes. I used 3 big peppers (green, yellow and red), cut them into big chunks and roasted in the oven with olive oil and 2 garlic cloves for 30 min, at 180C degrees.

Once your peppers are roasted, you throw them into the soup maker with a tin of plum tomatoes, 800ml of veg stock, 100ml of soya cream, 2 tablespoons of  sugar and a little bit of salt and pepper. The soup will be ready in 20-30 minutes and it is simply AMAZING!


Cream of Broccoli & Leek Soup
For this soup, you will need 1 small broccoli, 1 leek, 200ml of soya cream and 800ml of veg stock. It's a very mild soup, but you can add some garlic or onion to it if you want a stronger flavour. Again, you roughly chop the ingredients, throw everything into the soup maker, blend and cook for 30-40 minutes.

Walnut & Rocket Pesto
I am a pesto addict and I make many variations of it. The traditional recipe includes pine nuts, basil, Parmesan, olive oil and garlic, but I like trying other flavour combinations. My recent creation is walnut and rocket pesto and it is soooo good!

I used 50g of walnuts, a bunch of basil, a big handful of rocket, 100ml of olive oil, 1 garlic clove, juice of 1/2 lemon, salt & pepper and 30g of vegan parmesan. Throw it into the blender (well, soup maker in this case), press the blend button and keep blending until smooth. I like my pesto quite chunky actually.

You can change the ingredients and the amounts slightly and it will always work. Basically, you need basil, any green leaves, oil, nuts, hard cheese and seasoning. To store the pesto, add more olive oil and keep it in the fridge in a jar or an air tight container.



I am very pleased with my Tower Soup Maker and I have been getting a lot of use out of it. It is reasonably priced, especially if you get it on offer. Super easy to use, easy to clean, safe and versatile.


The soup maker is available from www.towerhousewares.co.uk and other stockists.

*gifted item


  
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