Retired teacher and fluent Irish speaker, Maureen Ní Mhurchú carried out a practical workshop with the primary and pre-school children on making home made soup today. Maureen came equipped with all her vegetables, kitchen utensils and appliances. Everyone got involved peeling, chopping, washing and mixing the vegetables. She spoke Irish ‘anseo is ansiúd’ making sure everyone understood what she was saying.
The onion gives the flavour to the soup while the potato thickens the soup. We cut the carrots into small slices as they are hard and take longer to cook. We cut the potatoes into chunks as they cook quicker. We used a stick of celery and a leek which both give lovely flavour. We learned that it is important to cut the leek vertically down the centre so as to clean off dirt or even worms. We put all the veg in a pot of water to boil gently. While we were waiting, Maureen taught us a song “thanks-to-earth“. Then it was time to whizz up the soft vegetables using the blender. We all took turns.
It is best to try to use organically grown vegetables but these can be difficult to source. Organically grown means no sprays or chemicals and crop rotation. Maureen had a bucket for composting all the peels. Composting is important for plant growth. She told us to add toilet roll cardboard and tissue boxes to our compost bin from time to time.
Her small request was “Please taste before saying you don’t like.” All children tasted the soup and went for more and more. The homemade vegetable soup was delicious and really enjoyed by everyone. We wrote up the receipe in our copies afterwards.
Once again, we all sang the song “Thanks to earth for the food we eat” in thanks for the lovely food.
