Olympic-inspired soup for champions. By Matt Preston.

Let’s join in the Olympic spirit and take a colourful approach to that most hearty of foods ... soup!

Al Richardson

Soup has been around for as long as we've had something to boil it in which makes it even more ancient than the Olympic ideal. At its heart, it is a wonderfully frugal invention designed for wringing the maximum flavour and nutritional goodness out of scraps and leftovers, but it can be elevated to gold medal contention through the use of flavourings and garnishes.

Like all the men and women competing in Rio this year, at their core all soups are fundamentally the same: not skin and bone but flavoured water and vegetables - possibly bulked with pulses, legumes, pasta or rice to lengthen them - whether they are clear broths with bits bobbing in them or a thick rich number with elements of the soup mashed or pureed to add body or creaminess.

With all this in mind, this week let's blend the world of the Olympics together with the world of soup as we take our souper inspiration from that most recognisable of all logos, the five Olympic rings envisioned by the modern Games' co-founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1912.

And rather than focusing on the obvious soups let's get in the Olympic spirit with exploring souper ideas that are a little bit outside of the norm - a bit like the way during the Olympics we all become instant experts on water polo, women's Sevens or the floor exercises.

Just as the colours in the rings are supposed to represent the colours of every flag in the world so the flavours of these soups will take inspiration from around the world. And just like the rings which sit on a white background let's ladle these soups into the traditional white kitchen bowls of winter.

In the red ring

In the spirit of great Spanish Olympians like Spain's Jose Luis Abajo make a spicy chorizo, red capsicum and chickpea soup. Buy raw chorizo sausages, snip the skins and ball the spicy paprika filling inside into little meat balls. Fry them in a dry pan and, when cooked through and browned at the sides, remove with a slotted spoon. Pour off the red fat that remains and reserve. Fry tiles of red capsicum with a couple of cloves of crushed garlic in the same pan until almost softened. Deglaze with a good glug of sherry. When reduced by two thirds add chicken stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat. Throw in a can of drained chickpeas and the meatballs to warm through. Serve with a swirl of the reserved chorizo oil and a squeeze of fresh (ideally blood) orange and a little grate of zest. Serve with lots of grated manchego (if you can find it) or parmesan. If you need greenery, mint brings a lovely freshness to the heat of this soup. For a creamy soup, blend in the chickpeas (and sieve the soup) before adding the meatballs and garnish.

In the yellow ring

I played with a few ideas for the perfect soup to represent the yellow ring. Perhaps a Greek egg and lemon soup - after all they invented the Olympics? Or a French onion soup made famous by that city's Les Halles market? This would pay respect to the Paris Olympics of 1924 or perhaps the second modern Olympiad of 1900 where the sports included ballooning, cricket and an underwater obstacle course! Nice but I'd rather celebrate the achievements of Rohullah Nikpai, the first and only athlete from Afghanistan to win an Olympic medal - for taekwondo - at both the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics. The classic Afghani soup kokoutti is perfect as it is made of leeks, yoghurt and a little turmeric topped with golden caramelised onions. If that's too funky then how about a chunky roast chicken and roast pumpkin soup topped with a sail of golden chicken skin and a drizzle of crispy sage and the butter you've fried it in. Just use a pale fleshed pumpkin.

In the green ring

There are even more contenders for a green soup whether it's the kale and potatoes of a Portuguese "caldo verde", a fresh take on a classic pea and ham but using frozen rather than dried peas, or perhaps a broccoli soup with its colour intensified with wilted spinach or kale. My favourite though is a "first of spring" minestrone loaded with everything green and just in season - sugar snaps, green beans, shredded cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, kale, cavalo nero, artichokes, silver beet, snow peas, celery, spring onion or leek greens. Make your soup base first and then add the veg in order of length of cooking time before serving so you don't cook anything to a depressing grey but leave the colour bright, green and just cooked. This means adding the more tender veg like the snow peas last. Alternatively blanch everything separately, refresh each in iced water immediately they are marginally "under", and then place in each bowl before pouring a steaming hot broth over them. Serve with a dollop of verdant, and freshly made, herb pesto.

In the blue ring

Other than those rather weird "blue lattes" that are a bit of a rage at some health food cafes, there's not a lot of blue food. And a soup made from rare "blue" beef or blue cheese doesn't really make my mouth water. (Although it is a classic combination so if you create one and it works do let me know!). Rather let's take the Olympic pool - the scene of memorable moments from our swim team - as inspiration and go for something really healthy like a miso broth with cubes of blue eye lightly poached in it. Miso has almost a third the calories of chicken stock but still has loads of flavour to match up to the meatiness of the fish. If you are cashed up then a blue swimmer crab broth would be equally delicious.

In the black ring

It is even harder to find a black soup than a blue one but in Japan they make a rather sexy black squid soup with dashi and squid ink. Or you could give this a more Mediterranean bent by making a black seafood soup. Fry ribbons of squid with bacon, finely chopped parsley stems and some coins of sliced spring onion. Remove and reserve the squid and bacon mixture. Add stale breadcrumbs to the pan for body and their silky texture. After they've been frying in the rendered bacon fat, deglaze the pan with white wine and then stir in your fish stock. Throw in a bay leaf for flavour - victors at the ancient Olympic Games were sometimes crowned with a wreath of bay leaves rather than given a medal. Keep stirring in fish stock over a medium heat until the breadcrumbs have broken down and you have a creamy soup. Finish with a generous amount of squid ink - pick one which isn't too salty - and pour this in to warm bowls and over the cooked squid and bacon mix. Top with blanched almond slivers and the finely chopped parsley leave for contrast. If you want to bulk this up further use cooked rice. This is quicker and means you can omit the breadcrumbs if that stirring process is just too dull for you to attempt.