Cabbage soup is ideal if you’re trying to lose some weight. However, some of us find it too bland, so we have added some chopped lardons to make it more flavoursome.

To keep it vegetarian, omit the lardons and add some garlic and ginger or more vegetables.

Quick and easy, this stores well in the fridge for a few days and freezes well.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 a red pepper, chopped
• 1 large potato, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 pack lardons
• 1/2 savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 low salt chicken stock cube made up to 1 litre
• 1 handful chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp single cream or crème fraîche

Step by step:

1. Sauté the chopped onion, pepper, potato and lardons in a pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil until starting to turn brown (5mins). Reserve a few lardons to dress the soup
2. Sprinkle over the flour and stir in the stock
3. Bring to the boil and simmer until vegetables are cooked (10 mins)
4. Add the cream (or crème fraîche) and cabbage and cook for another 5 minutes. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste
5. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley, some reserved lardons and a swirl of olive oil

Nutritional information: kcal 336 ~ fat 15g ~ saturates 4g ~ carbs 32g ~ sugars 7g ~ fibre 5g ~ protein 21g ~ salt 2.61g

Tips:

Remember to reserve some lardons for serving. Substitute lardons for streaky bacon or guanciale if you prefer.

Chilli flakes or sliced fresh chillies will add extra flavour

• Carole’s Parsnip and Pear Soup

To Sauté

Sautéing is to cook ingredients quickly in a pan using just a small amount of oil. Moving the ingredients regularly and keeping them in one layer produces best results.

The French word sauté means to jump or bounce and describes the cooking technique to keep the food moving in the pan.