I don't buy soup. A good hearty soup base might start with a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped in equal measure, sautéed gently in extra virgin olive oil. That's great if you want to make a chicken or turkey broth made with the scraps from a roast. Throw some scraps of ham in there for good measure. To make that into a meal, add some small pasta for the last ten minutes or so, ditalini or mini-macaroni sort of thing. I would never use stock cubes in such a broth, just the stock made from the carcass. For leek and potato, or a butternut squash soup, you could just sautée the leeks/onions in butter for a few minutes then throw in the cubed spuds/squash, add your stock and simmer until the veg is soft. You can then either leave as it is or blitz with a blender. A good thing to do is to blitz just half of it.

One of my favourite soups is nicked from Gino d'Acampo. The quality of your chicken stock is paramount for this. Chop up half a pound of sliced streaky bacon or pancetta (not smoked for me) and fry it merrily for a few minutes in a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. Add a pound and a half of chopped onion or some shallots and fry with the bacon for about 20 minutes on a low heat. Add two pints or more of stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes. A tin and a half is good, about 500-600g. Simmer gently for three-quarters of an hour. Check the seasoning then serve with some shavings of Parmesan and a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and eat with crusty bread. You will not BELIEVE how good this is.