There’s nothing quite like a warm, delicious bowl of soup on a cold winter’s night. I make this for 3 or 4 days and save myself the cooking. It can also be frozen if you wish. Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Ingredients (serves 4 people)

• 1 large white onion finely chopped
• 6 large carrots chopped into small pieces
• 3 leeks chopped into slices
• 1 lemon (the juice)
• 1 tbsp. of butter
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 vegetable stock cube (bouillon)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Gently melt the butter in a pot and add the olive oil, followed by the onions and leeks.
2. Turn occasionally for about 5 minutes, allowing the leeks to become more tender and the onions to cook  (be careful not to let these burn or brown)
3. Add the carrots to the pot and enough boiling water to cover all the vegetables (you can add as much or as little as you want  depending on how thick or thin you like your soup at the end).
4. Add the vegetable stock cube, stir well and leave to boil for approx 15 mins.
5. Once the carrots are tender, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.
6. Place the entire contents of the pot into a large bowl and use your hand held blender to blend the contents. If you like your soup lumpy then blend it only a little. If you like your soup thick but well blended then continue blending until smooth.Add more water at this stage if needed.
7. Add salt, pepper and more lemon if required.