Wednesday, 6 October 2010

Witches’ Brew - October's New Covent Garden Soup of the Month !


Waiter, waiter, there's a fly in my soup ! Err no, that's a spider and you'll be happy to know that it's just an added extra to show the Halloween-ness of this month's ghoulishly named Witches' Soup. The great thing with a name like that is that even kids who turn their noses up at soup or vegetables in general will be jumping up and down on the spot begging you to let them have some for their tea ! Well, that's what happened in our house anyway !

Witches' Brew is basically pumpkin soup. I'm not keen on pumpkin soup, but I've learnt many times in the past that those clever soup monsters at New Covent Garden manage to take ingredients that I don't like and whizz them up into something that I can't get enough of ! I thought I hated fish soup but I would (and indeed have) walk through pouring rain and bitter wind to pick up a carton of their Smoked Haddock Chowder. In fact, it's only 7.30am but I now have cravings for some. Hmmm fish soup for breakfast ?! Maybe I could dress it up as kedgeree !

But on to this month's limited edition offering. When I was given the chance to try some out, I gave a hesitant yes, hoping that they would have again worked their magic and made me a pumpkin soup that I like. As always, they've mixed up a whole host of tantalising and sometimes surprising ingredients that blend together to make an absolutely delicious explosion of flavours in your mouth.

They explain, "We've blended together velvety pumpkin flesh with blood-red plum tomatoes; and for a bit of extra bite, cast in a spell of chickpeas, kidney beans and black eyed beans (which look like real eyeballs - a great twist for the kids' Halloween parties)." It's more than a soup, it's a hearty, warming, filling meal in a bowl. New Covent Garden always leave tender chunks of meat or vegetables in their soups so you can really get your teeth into them and appreciate the textures as well as the flavours. But in spite of that, it only contains 56 calories per 100g, as well as being low in fat and sugar.

So do I like it ? Of course I do ! I haven't found one of their soups that I haven't liked yet, despite frequently buying varieties based around ingredients I usually turn my nose up, just to see what they've managed to do with them ! I have only two regrets. The first is that this is a Soup of the Month so it wil only be around for a short time. The second is that last night the kids finished off the carton that I was planning on eating tonight !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £1.99

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