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Healthy Waists, Healthy Wallets: Kitchen Sink Soup
Hoooo, boy. Grocery shopping, am I right?
No, I’m not trying out a new standup comedy routine. Meal planning and grocery shopping is just one of those chores that can get overwhelming. We’ve all been there. End of the day, no energy to shuffle through the aisles, trying to figure out something to feed your beloved family that insists on eating at least three times a day. It’s enough to make a person weep.
On a recent weekday, I just couldn’t face the trek to the store, so I pulled together bits and bobs that I had in the fridge that needed to be used up and threw them together into a soup. Surprisingly, my “kitchen sink soup” was a hit. Of course, everyone will have different things in their fridge, but this is a good outline that you can fill in with whatever you might have on hand.
Kitchen Sink Soup
Ingredients
- Vegetables – I used carrots, celery, an onion, half a bulb of fennel leftover from something else, a leek, about 3 cloves of garlic, and some spinach that was on its last leg. If you have some tomato puree, diced tomatoes, or even tomato sauce, you can use it.
- Olive oil to sauté the vegetables
- Broth or stock – I had some low-sodium chicken broth, but you can use what you have on hand. If you don’t have broth, you can use water. If you have a bit of wine left over (I know, I know), you can bunge that in there.
- Beans, pasta, or grains – I had a bag of frozen tortellini, so I used that
- Leftover meat – We didn’t have any leftover meat the first time I made this, but since then, I’ve used leftover roasted chicken, grilled pork tenderloin, sauteed shrimp, and country ham.
- Herbs – You can use fresh or dried, whatever you have. I had a bit of fresh parsley and a few sprigs of leftover rosemary and thyme, as well as a couple of bay leaves. I’ve since used dried fine herbes and Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste – I season as I go. When I’m sautéing the vegetables, I season them. I taste the soup as it’s cooking and season as needed. If you just add salt and pepper at the end, your dish (whatever you’re making) will be tasteless because the individual components won’t be seasoned, and you’ll need to add a lot more salt to compensate.
- Garnishes – We had some leftover pesto, and it was delicious dolloped on the soup. I also made some croutons out of stale bread. You can top it with grated cheese, more herbs, a drizzle of sour cream that’s been thinned with milk, or a splash of good olive oil.
Directions
In a large pot over medium heat, sauté the vegetables until softened, about 5 minutes. If you’re using tomato puree, diced tomatoes, or tomato sauce, throw it in now and cook for a minute or two.
Add your cooking liquid and herbs and bring to a simmer. If you’re using pasta, beans, or grains, add them now and cook according to the package directions. If you’re using a filled pasta like tortellini or ravioli, wait until you’re ready to serve as they don’t take long to cook and if you overcook them, they disintegrate.
To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish as you wish.
I know this isn’t a “real” recipe; it’s merely a guideline that you tailor to your family’s tastes and what you have in your fridge.
