New Covent Garden Soup Co - Soup of the month February

I can't believe its February already, but one good thing comes out of the months flying past so fast and that's a new Soup Of The Month from New Covent Garden Soup Co. 

This month is Thai Style Broccoli & Ginger, a bit of a strange mix you might think but apparently it's been carefully selected with Valentines Day in mind. OK I'm a week late on that one, but soup isn't my idea of a fun valentines, plus it was a Sunday - pizza day, obviously! 

Anyway the press release is as follows: 

Made with a delicious mix of well documented aphrodisiac ingredients and Thai spices, the soup is perfect for consumers seeking to celebrate the most romantic of months.

New Covent Garden Soup Co put it a little nicer on the packet:

Romance is sure to be in the air this month with our latest tantalising marriage of flavours.... ....Whether enjoying it with your significant other or sipping it solo (wahey!) let our new Thai Broccoli & Ginger Soup of the month make your taste buds skip a beat this year. 

The soup, as always, is nice and healthy with half a carton containing 1 and 1/2 of your 5 a day and is suitable for vegetarians. 

What a charming shade of green! 

Before opening the carton I thought broccoli didn't really have a smell but sure enough something smelt broccoli-ish. That didn't last long though and it soon began to smell exactly as it would taste. 

There were no 'chunky' ingredients so to speak, like potato and no large chunks of broccoli or any other veg but the soup was very thick, yet still had a quite smooth texture. 

The first taste I noticed was of the coconut - though that's probably due to my usual aversion to coconut - and it soon blended in with the various spices used. 

The spices chosen were perfect, mixed with the coconut it had a flavour extremely reminiscent of a Thai Curry and a slight spicy kick to it. I'd always assumed the Thai fish sauce or stock was what gave Thai Curry that unique flavour that I love but after eating this soup, with its complete absence of anything fishy, I'm guessing it's actually the coconut. 

I think the coconut is what gives it the thick creamy texture as well, as there's nothing remotely creamy listed either but this really felt and tasted like I was eating a slightly watery, not too spicy Thai Curry.

I didn't actually taste the various veg; broccoli, onion, cauliflower, kale or even the rice. They weren't very large but I didn't mind as this soup isn't about the textures or the flavours of those. It's all about the spices and they are spot on. 

My one gripe is the vegetable I did notice, the spinach. Now I love spinach but there were large whole spinach leaves and unfortunately they just ended up stringy and slimy. Not a very pleasant feeling but thankfully there weren't too many. 

Rating:

I can't say the soup made me particularly horny so it would have failed if I'd been using it as an aphrodisiac but it was tasty enough I'll let that slide! 

It was surprisingly filling too so I don't think I'd be very comfortable even moving right now let alone working up a sweat!! 

8/10  

New Covent Garden Soup Co Soup of the month - January

I've made no secret of my love of New Covent Garden Soup Co soups and I have a love/hate relationship with their soup of the months. If it's good, I'm gutted it will be gone in a couple of weeks time but it runs the risk of not being good enough to be a standard flavour but one they wanted to try out anyway. 

NCG (I really can't be bothered to keep writing their name out!) have a range of 'Skinny Soups' ironically most have more calories than the normal line but are all "delicious and satisfying, yet less than 2% fat, all green traffic lights and (per half carton) 2 of your 5 a day". 

This months soup is Chunky Root Vegetable,

Looks:

It was a bit on the thin side for a chunky soup before I warmed it up but it thickened nicely. It doesn't look the most appealing, a bit sickly in colour but there seemed to be plenty of veg and black turtle beans.

Taste:

For the amount of veg present, I expected my first taste to be one of the many different used. Unfortunately the first, and most, of my spoonfuls tasted heavily of black pepper. It's the very last ingredient in the ingredients list so I have to assume the machine went a bit haywire on the batch mine came from but it was massively over-seasoned. The only times I couldn't taste the black pepper was when I could taste the garlic and thyme so I really do think I ended up with a dodgy lot - either that or NCG have got their seasoning ratios way off. 

Fighting my taste buds to taste the veg, I was otherwise pleased. The vegetables do have a good fresh flavour it's just covered in pepper. The carrots especially tasted extremely vibrant and fresh and all the veg held on to a decent texture, no mushiness whatsoever. I also enjoyed the black turtle beans, mainly again for the texture as they hold a little more bite than the rest of the vegetables. 

It had thickened up while heating, but the actual soup was still on the watery side especially for a chunky soup. I'd have liked a thicker 'base' so to speak.

Rating:

6/10 It's not one of my favourites, purely because of the pepper - the vegetables were very nice and it was satisfying and extremely filling. If anybody else has tried this I'd appreciate it if you could let me know whether they're all massively peppery or if its just mine!

New Covent Garden Soup Co. -

I could sit here and say this cold weather makes me want to eat soup, but that would be a lie. I want to eat soup all of the time. 

Although it's November this is the Soup Of The Month for December. I'll let New Covent Garden Soup Co. Advertising department tell you what makes up the White Christmas Soup; 

Our White Christmas Soup
Our Soup of the Month for December is a wonderfully white creamy soup that will bring you Christmas warmth and cheer in a bowl. Our chefs have lovingly blended cauliflower, potato and single cream until smooth and creamy. Then finished off with aromatic truffle infused oil, white wine and a hint of white pepper to bring you this deliciously luxurious soup. So wrap up warm, rejoice in festive good cheer and enjoy our divine White Christmas Soup.

This photo doesn't show you how pale this soup is. I have one that does but it would look like you were looking at a blank screen - it's just off white with a slightly creamy tinge to it. It was a bit weird to look at as most foods I eat are full of unnatural bright colours!

I have very little patience so always try to eat it right away, even though I basically burnt every taste bud on my tongue off, I could taste the potato immediately. New Covent Garden Soup Co do potato soups well and it's no exception here. Once it had cooled down enough to enjoy I noticed that while the potato was the stronger, there was another flavour mixed in there too. It could have been the cauliflower or the truffle oil, cauliflower isn't a particularly strong flavour and to be honest I've never tried a truffle infused oil before so I have nothing to compare it to. 

The soup is deliciously creamy, both in flavour and mouthfeel and while it's a thin, un-chunky (that should be a real word) soup it's smooth and thick feeling. 

Even though I have no clue what a truffle infused oil tastes like, I'm pretty sure it was the ingredient that made this taste a bit more special. Very tasty and despite the fact that cauliflower and potato aren't really associated with Christmas it does have a special, festive vibe to it. 

7/10 

New Covent Garden Soup Co Multigrain Risotto

I love, love, love New Covent Garden Soup Co soups, my favourites are the Carrot & Coriander and the Carrot & Butternut.

I tried the new Scream Of Pumpkin soup last week but didn't bother reviewing it as there was nothing Lucy said in her review that I didn't agree with! 

There are three new "Taste Of Health" products out from New Covent Garden, I'd like to try all of them but the first I found in Sainsburys - Multigrain Risotto with Greens. 

A little back story, I dream of a risotto I had on my honeymoon. It was just Cretan vegetable risotto with tomato and a little hint of cheese, but hands down it is the best thing I've ever eaten. Ever. 

It doesn't look too great but I don't think risotto is a pretty food anyway! It only takes seven minutes on the hob and as you can see in the photo, it comes out of the carton very thick and gloopy but it thinned out as I warmed it up. 

The end result was great, far too thick to be soupy but just a tad more watery than normal risotto. Not that it tasted watery in the slightest, it was thick, filling and the mixed grains (barley, red rice, quinoa, pinhead oats, spelt) tasted and felt like actual risotto, not mushy or too hard at all. 

The flavour was lovely and creamy, there was no overpowering individual 'green' that stood out and they all complimented each other well. That said I did have a few whole heads of broccoli which was interesting - I didn't expect that!

All of a sudden I got a taste of that cheese that has been missing from every risotto I've had since that one perfect one - Pecorino Cheese according to the ingredients. There's not a huge amount of the cheese in the risotto but it packs a punch and adds a creamy cheesey element to what's already a good dish, 

This is probably the nicest ready made risotto I've tried. It's certainly the nicest where the preparation is put it in a pan and give it a stir occaisonally for seven minutes or whack it in the microwave and forget about it. 

It's nice and healthy, low in sugar and saturated fats, a good source of fibre and protein and half a carton is one of your five a day but it doesn't taste like it should be! 

8/10