In this column, Scout contributor and food enthusiast Maciel Pereda shares her personal recipes aimed at solving everyday cooking conundrums. Possibilities are endless, ingredients are local, and cravings are always respected. Today Maciel shares her soup formula for making Mondays survivable…

“It’s fine, we have soup.”

Those five words form a cornerstone of meal building in our house. Let me explain.

You see, I am a Soup Person. I come from a long line of Soup People. I even birthed my own Soup Person to carry on this torch. And because of this, I know that the secret to surviving the beginning of the work week is soup (surviving mostly being a process that entails feeding yourself and possibly others). Add bread, MAYBE salad if you’re some sort of over-achiever, and you have made the worst day of the week more survivable. Very few foods let you make a meal out of them just by adding some bread – take the path of least resistance.

So here it is: my soup formula. The steps that I take on approximately one out of every two Sunday afternoons because I can smell Monday coming at me with its unrelenting persistence and I know there will be no mercy. I can picture myself bombing home the next afternoon, with no interest in eating yet, knowing that my kid will be home in a half hour with a DEEP interest in eating immediately. It’s a formula (not a recipe) because my need for adaptability is high, but so is my need for novelty.

The beauty of this formula is that most of us eventually find ourselves with the kinds of veggies that can jump into this soup easily. I tend to avoid anything particularly leafy since it is ultimately going to be blended (don’t ask me to chew on a Monday after work, please). Big hearty root veg are ideally suited for this formula, but it also yields a delightful bell pepper rendition when paired with a tin of tomatoes. The one I’ve featured here is a frequent rendition of mine featuring carrots and apples. The ingredients are extremely adaptable and should be decided upon based on what needs to make the speediest exit from your fridge or pantry.

The essential items you will need are:

Some aromatic veg to build a base (e.g. onions, garlic, shallot, leeks)
Some starchy veg to add body (Yukon gold potatoes are my go-to)
Some starring veg you want to use up (e.g. carrots, yams, squash, bell peppers)
Stock of some kind (chicken or veg)
Fat in the form of a liquid (e.g. coconut milk, cream)
Seasoning (plenty of s&p plus complimentary spices/herbs)

Below are the steps, with the ingredients filled in for a carrot-apple version (but as long as you keep the quantities roughly the same for each essential, you can sub in different ingredients easily). Chopping can be VERY rough since everything is getting pureed in the end.

In a large pot, heat a generous glug of olive oil over medium-high. Sauté one large chopped yellow onion and two smashed garlic cloves with a big pinch of salt until golden. Pop a lid on the pot, dial the heat down to low, and cook undisturbed for approximately 20 minutes, at which point the aromatics should be sticky and golden.

Once the aromatics are ready, add about a pound of peeled and chopped carrots, two peeled and chopped apples, two peeled and chopped Yukon golds, a mix of ground ginger, cumin, and cinnamon, and a good spoonful of salt. Sauté for a couple of minutes, until a light “crust” is forming on the bottom of the pot.

Pour in about a litre of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook, uncovered, for about twenty minutes or until the veg are all super soft. Pour in one or two cans of coconut milk – this can depend on how rich or thick you want the soup to be; you can also add some water as needed to thin it out. Blend it all up extremely well so that the end result is a silky-smooth dream (an immersion blender is my favourite little tool for speedy soup). Taste and season generously as needed. Freeze any extra portions to pull out for quick meals.