Blind Taste Test Recipe Creation with Soup! My attempt to recreate a soup based on a blind taste test with New Covent Garden Soup Co. I was sent some soups that had been covered in tape, and my task was to try to recreate the soup based on taste, which I did, et voila! A Skinny Tomato & Red Pepper Soup with Quinoa.

Let’s Do Lunch Better

with

New Covent Garden Soup Co.

How good are your taste sensors? Can you decipher oregano from parsley, Cheddar cheese from Caerphilly or red lentils from chickpeas? Those may sound easy examples, but how about when they are added as one of several ingredients to a cooked dish, such as soup? That was my challenge recently, as many readers will have seen from my two Instagram stories – I was sent some soups from the New Covent Garden Soup Co. which had been covered in tape, to stop me seeing what flavour they were, my mission from there was to try the soup for lunch one day, and then recreate the soup using my culinary prowess and taste and smell sensors! It was a fun and tasty project and one that I really enjoyed……..

…….the only clue to the soup and its ingredients was the “tape measure” at the top of the packet, which led me to believe it was a diet, or low-calorie or low-fat soup, other than that, I was in the dark! The soup was rich and full of flavour – it was apparent from the start that it had been thickened with pulses and/or grains, and the first ingredient I was able to identify was “Quinoa”, mainly due to the fact that I co-authored a cookbook last year called “We Love Quinoa” and so I know what it looks like and tastes like! It was also obvious that it was a tomato based soup with red peppers and the herb taste reminded me of pizza, so, it had to be oregano. It was a very thick soup, and I also detected onions and garlic in the taste.

We both enjoyed the soup with some crusty bread on the side, despite it being a “skinny” soup, well, it wasn’t the start of the diet season just yet! I then set out to make my shopping list of ingredients to make my own version of the soup, before I was sent a separate consignment of the soup UNVEILED so to speak. My shopping list comprised:

Tinned tomatoes; Roasted red peppers; Onions; Garlic; Vegetable stock or stock cube; Olive Oil, Oregano, Quinoa, Salt and Pepper

As it was a skinny soup, I was easy on the oil, (2 teaspoons) and started off by sweating the onions in a little oil with some water and with the lid on the pan…..

……after about 5 minutes, I added the garlic and sautéed that for a further 2 minutes before adding the quinoa to moisten it……

……I then add the chopped tomatoes and seasoning before simmering for a few minutes and adding 450ml of water or vegetable stock – I used a veggie stock cube made up with boiling water……simmer for a further 5 minutes before adding the red peppers and replacing the lid, to cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the soup is thick and the quinoa has cooked. 

And, LOOK! My soup creation looks very similar to the original soup, but now for the taste test…….

……The soup tasted very similar to the original and the texture was almost the same, but, I found my seasoning was more pronounced, which suited our taste more, although you can add seasonings at the table or with accompaniments.  Now for the BIG reveal! WHAT WAS THAT SOUP?

I was almost SPOT ON with my blind taste test, although, on looking at the label, I had omitted to add carrots, red rice, buckwheat, paprika, fennel seeds and tomato paste! The soup is one of New Covent Garden Soup Co’s Soup of the Month and is: SKINNY TOMATO, RED PEPPER & QUINOA. Weighing in at only 120 calories per serving with 0.6g saturated fat, it’s a great soup to do lunch better for January, after all the excesses of the festive period, and mine probably came in just under that, as I didn’t use all of the listed ingredients, but, the taste was still lovely, and the texture was hearty and comforting.

So, you can do lunch better this January with this delicious Tomato, Red Pepper & Quinoa soup, which is low in fat yet filling, and with all green traffic lights and 2 of your 5 a day per serving it’s a great start to the new year! I hope you enjoyed my first post in collaboration with New Covent Garden Soup Co…….I will be back in a day or two to offer you some FABULOUS ideas for doing lunch better using leftovers from the festive period, by way of Toppers and Dippers! So, do pop back to see what I have up my culinary sleeve, when we will all be enjoying a bowl of Colcannon & Ham, as well as Maris Piper Potato & Leek and Lentil & Smoked Bacon, complete with festive leftover toppers and dippers. Have a GREAT start to the week, and don’t forget that this soup would be perfect for Meat Free Monday too, Karen

*Collaborative paid post*