Mirepoix

I had heard about this method and began using it to start soups quite recently, but I didn't know what it was called. Now I know it's called mirepoix. It's finely chopped onion, carrot and celery with a ratio of twice as much onion as carrot and celery.

I let it cook in olive oil for as long as possible before adding the other soup ingredients. I chop it finely as in the bottom photo, but I see that it's sometimes chopped roughly as in the top photo.

However, I've found that while I usually don't mind chopping vegetables, all the fine chopping is a bit much. It might be time to think about getting a food processor, maybe just a small one, for jobs like this.