I saw about half a metre of beef neck at the butcher’s and bought it. After separating the vertebrae I put them into a large stockpot with a large onion, carrot, parsnip a stick of celery a couple of cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of dried dill seeds and some bay leaves. Covered the lot with cold water and a lid and brought it to a boil. I then skimmed off the froth, added a little more water and brought the lot to a boil again. I then turned down the heat to a simmer and cooked it, covered, for about two hours. When I tested the meat on the bones after that time I found that it was still quite firm so I let the lot simmer for about another half hour.

When the bouillon cooled down I strained it through some cheesecloth and finished up with about 2 litres of unsalted stock. You can do this weeks and even months in advance as the stock will keep in freezer bags in the freezer for a long time.

Now to make the borshtch. I’ll give you the ingredients as long as you remember that, like all vital cooking, they are only an occasional record and subject to variation.

Dice the gravy beef into bite sized pieces and sprinkle lightly with salt. Cover and let stand in the refrigerator.

Put the whole washed beetroot and the gravy beef into the bouillon with the sauerkraut, vinegar, Maggi or Knorr seasoning, peppercorns and the pickling brine and cook for about 10 minutes. The beetroot should not be fully cooked. Take it off the heat, remove the beetroot and let it cool.

Fry the onion in the butter until it loses the raw white colour, add the garlic, cabbage, carrot and parsnip. Stir thoroughly, reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes.

Then add the vegetables plus the tomato paste to the stock and cook gently until the meat is fully cooked. Meanwhile peel and slice thinly the beetroot and add to the stock about 5 minutes before the meat is fully cooked. It doesn’t matter if the meat is slightly overcooked as it should fall apart in the mouth. Ensure that the seasoning is right before taking the borshtch off the heat adding salt and freshly ground pepper if required.

Trim leeks, wash thoroughly. Slice celery, leeks and zucchini; peel and slice carrot and potato.

Heat butter in large saucepan, add vegetables, stir to coat vegetables in butter. Cover pan, cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Do not allow vegetables to brown.

Add water, crumbled stock cubes, salt and pepper; mix well. Bring soup to the boil, reduce heat, simmer covered 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Stir in parsley. Puree vegetables and liquid in electric blender; blend just one cup of soup at a time on medium speed.

Return soup to saucepan, add cream, and reheat without boiling.

The original Vichyssoise is a smart version of homely potato and leek soup.

This one just uses cauliflower instead of potato.

Finely slice 1 onion, 1 leek, and 2 garlic cloves

Cut half a cauliflower head into small florets.

Heat 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil (don’t use strongly flavoured olive oil) in a large pot and sweat the vegetables and several sprigs of thyme over low heat for about 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and clear – don’t let the onion or garlic brown.

Add 2 litres of chicken stock (or vegetable stock – but water by itself will leave the soup without much flavour). Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Blend the soup until it is very smooth. For a finer finish, then put it through a fine sieve.

Season with salt and white pepper, and perhaps a little lemon juice.

Vichyssoise is supposed to be a cold soup – but it is good hot or warm as well.

Heat oil, add spices and cook for 3 minutes.

Add sweet potato and stock - cook till tender.

Cool, blend in food processor and return to pot.

Add coconut milk and sugar and stir till soup is hot.

Stir through coriander and serve.

Adjust spices according to taste.

Adjust amount of water for desired consistency.

In a saucepan heat oil and cook onion and garlic until soft. Stir in chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes. Pour in stock and slowly bring to the boil. Simmer until chicken is tender.

The recipe is still in the fine-tuning stage, but I can tell you it involves chocolate, cream, milk, salt, water, cinnamon and marshmallow, and has potential to include other bits and pieces in addition or in lieu until we come up with the perfect combination… Or the morning of Soup Day, whichever comes first.

Cook lentils in water until soft.

Meanwhile, fry sliced onions in oil till dark brown and caramelised, and a hairs breadth from burning. (DO NOT BURN) Will take up to 20 minutes to do this properly.

Add bur’ghal to lentils and bring to boil. While boiling, add onions, oil and stir in well with 1 tablespoon of salt.

Cover and simmer 1 ½ - 2 hours, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

Add a little boiling water if the soup gets too thick.