Homemade veggie soup made with vegetable scraps and ends.
Today a quick lunch for two was in order, the main requisite being a soup. So I pulled two containers of vegetables left over from the past two evenings’ meals from the fridge and combined their contents in a saucepan.
A veggie medley
They happened to go really well together: a zucchini/yellow summer squash/onion/garlic mix and an onion/fennel combination, both of which had been lightly stewed. Then I poured in enough vegetable stock (left over from boiling corn) to make a heavy liquid and blended it all with a hand blender. I let it stay lumpy and adjusted the consistency by adding a little more stock. When it was good and hot, I poured it into two soup bowls and tossed in some croutons (made from stale bread and stored in a jar in the fridge) and grated some Romano cheese over it all. I couldn’t believe how good all these scraps tasted!
Alternatives for the future
Next time I’ll try pureeing the cold veggies very smooth and adding some sour cream. I’ll top the bowls of cold soup with finely chopped chives or scallions, or maybe dill or parsley, depending what’s on hand. Let’s see how this turns out!
I have many many similar recipes that can be found in my new book, The Refrigerator Files: A Guide to Creative Makeovers for Your Leftovers. You can check it out on iUniverse, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. I use my own book a lot!
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I often make soup from leftovers. I freeze little bits of leftover soups, stews, chili, vegetables, stocks and even the water from steaming vegetables or juices from cooking chicken, etc. I can combine them in a pot with other leftovers, some chicken stock, throw in some leftover or fresh vegetables, seasonings, some leftover pasta, brown rice or quinoa, for a fast, delicious soup!
I’m with you, Mike. One of the best things about roasting a chicken is making the soup! I carefully pour off the drippings a few times while the chicken is cooking, put it in the fridge so the fat rises to the top, then a few days after I roast, I combine the gelatine in the jar with lots of onion, celery, carrots, and usually some of the fresh chicken meat, of course, along with the carcass. I like to use Japanese udon noodles (am convinced this is the kind Campbell’s uses, too). And just before I serve I throw in fresh spinach. (You can’t throw in the spinach too early in the process or it will turn brown.) Voila — one of the joys of winter then emerges!
I have a chicken carcass waiting for processing tomorrow. Will boil it up with all those veggies you mentioned in a pressure cooker, strain it, and when cool put it in the fridge for the fat to congeal and be skimmed off. When I reheat it with some chicken pieces, I’ll follow your idea of thowing in some spinach. Never thought of that before. Thanks!
Yes, Jocelyn, the spinach adds color, nutrition and flavor. No one ever told me to add the spinach. I’d seen it done in Chinese wonton soups as a kid, so I figured I’d put it in my chicken soup and never “looked back”.
You’re so right, Mike. There’s no end to what you can combine. Freezing your leftover scraps is a great way to go. You mention “even” using water from steaming veggies. Of course! In fact I make it a habit of keeping all veggie cooking water, except from the cabbage family. Sometimes I don’t use it all up before it starts turning, but then, there’s always more! It has many uses, including in bechamels.
It warms my heart (and some days my stomach) to know that “soup du jour” is alive and well in restaurants even in America as a creative way to use leftovers.
This is great! As a college student, I’m always trying to scrap together meals out of what I have. I never thought of making soup before! I will definitely try this in the future.
A soup can turn into a whole meal, perfect for a quick, college student’s supper. You don’t really have to have stock on hand, just some packages of veggie or chicken bouillon cubes (the most versatile), to be dissolved in water in the microwave oven. If you need to thicken the soup, put a few spoonfuls in a cup, let it cool a bit, and stir in a tablespoon of cornstarch. When completely dissolved, add to soup pot and simmer gently for a few minutes to cook the starch.
Good luck!
I often put chicken cubes into my own chicken soup as a way to add extra flavor, but you have to be a little careful, as they can add a lot of salt, too?
To be economical, I sometimes buy the jar of chicken bouillon in powder form, and add a teaspoonful at a time.
It’s amazing how resourceful we can be when we keep a closer eye on the budget. This week I made a King Ranch casserole and Chicken and Dumplings from one chicken + one chicken breast (preserving the stock from boiling the chicken). Freezing the leftovers so that I can make Chicken Pot Pies this week by making a simple crust and adding some veggies. I also saved some of the sauce while making the casserole so that I can make a mini version for us when the kids aren’t here.
Thanks for all of the great ideas!
You can save even before the leftovers too. Once the weather gets a bit colder, I head to my local Polish market on Brooklyn and stock up on farm-fresh veggies. Typically, you can gather enough to make two huge batches of veggie stew for under $15 (including any stock or base), which tend to last a while – depending on how many friends/roommates you feed with it.
Hmm…now I’m starving!
Your comment, Eric, reminded me that often I deliberately plan for leftovers! The point is that many dishes “mature” after a day in the fridge, especially stews, soups, veggie combinations, etc. and are more succulent the second time around, especially when disguised in a new presentation. An example would be buying a nice big chuck roast, and you will have all sorts of new possibilities over the next few days.
Love your ideas. Lucky you, having a Polish market nearby!
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I keep two zipper bags in the freezer. One of them’s for compost (banana and avocado peels, etc.) Into the other I place wilted herbs and greens, stem ends of mushrooms, carrot tops, onion and garlic skin and ends, ends of radishes, turnips, rutabagas, celeriac peels, and so forth. Once the bag is full, I place it in a pot, cover it in pure water, and cover the pot. I then cook it for hours (often overnight) over a tiny flame until all the goodness is extracted from the vegetable matter, at which time I remove all the solids and place them in the compost bag. I then remove the cover from the broth, and continue cooking it (still on a tiny flame) until there’s only a quart left. I freeze it in Pyrex, and use this very concentrated broth for soups, stews, and gravies. Health and peace.