PoB Hotels Chef Series: Beat the blues and keep your gut healthy with this recipe

Cooking hearty meals during the colder months is a must not just for staying warm from the inside out, but also for boosting the immune system when natural sources are harder to come by.

Who better to share their favourite winter warmer recipe than super food and gut health expert, not to mention Michelin-Starred, George Blogg, Executive Chef at Gravetye Manor? George explains that prioritising vegetables and spices during the winter months is important to increase the variety of beneficial microbes in the gut - the key to supporting many aspects of our health including immune, metabolic and neurological functions.

At Gravetye Manor, George uses only the best high-quality produce grown from the hotel’s very own kitchen garden and estate, to create his seasonally changing menu. Read below to see the recipe for Winter Vegetable Soup, specially curated to cultivate your body and mind this winter.

“This is a very easy way of eating 14 different plant based ingredients, plus an array of spices to promote your gut bacteria. If you are trying to achieve consuming 30 different vegetables and fruit types a week, you are pretty much half way there with only one dish. The vegetables do not have to be cut neatly at all, and you can prepare them and add them one by one while the soup is cooking. Feel free to omit or add other vegetables as you wish.”

Portions – approximately 16

Freezes very well so perfect to have on hand this winter

Ingredients:

50ml olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

3 teaspoons of ground garam masala spice (cinnamon, black pepper, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg)

2 teaspoons turmeric

2 teaspoons grey sea salt

6 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced

1 leek, split down the middle, washed and diced

3 sticks celery, diced

1 fennel, cut into 4, core removed and diced

1 small pumpkin, peeled, cut in half, seeds removed and diced

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 small cauliflower, core removed and diced

4 carrots, washed, top & tailed and diced

1 small swede, very well peeled (as the outer can be stringy) and diced

2 parsnips, peeled and diced

1 x tin coconut milk

Enough water to just cover

1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped

To serve with:

10ml olive oil

80g pumpkin seeds

4 tablespoons of Greek or strained yoghurt

Small amount of chopped coriander leaves

• Add 50ml olive oil to a large pan and place on a medium heat
• Prepare the onion and add with the spices and salt
• Continue to prepare the vegetables in the ingredient list order (garlic, leek, celery etc), stirring when you add them to the pot
• When all the vegetables have been added, and the coconut milk, cover with water and add the lid
• When it starts to simmer, turn the heat down and continue to simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are all soft
• Remove from the heat, add the bunch of coriander, and blend with a stick blender or table top machine
• Reserve what you need for the next meal, and store/freeze the remainder
• In a small saucepan add the 10ml of olive oil and the pumpkin seeds and fry until browned
• Serve the soup with a dollop of yoghurt in the centre, some of the fried pumpkin seeds and a few coriander leaves