‘Tis Soup and Stew Season!
Posted by: TammyI love fall and winter for so many reasons. Winter gives me permission to stay inside and enjoy the pleasures of quilting and crafting. It also leads me to the kitchen and tummy warming pleasures of soups and stews. I love the aroma wafting out of the kitchen as a stew simmers on the stove top. The steam sends the little valve clinking away on the cover to my favorite soup pot. My heart grows content (and my stomach louder!) as I finish baking fresh bread and we sit down together to spoon in!
Soups and stews lend themselves to frugal cooking. They are a great way to use what you have on hand and stretch small amounts of anything by adding it to other small amounts of anything. One of my favorite soups is what I’ve come to term “Refrigerator Soup”. No matter how small the leftover, I tend to save it. If it’s summer time and I haven’t used up a leftover, I’ll put it into the freezer. Vegetables go into just one container but meats will be kept separate (trust me when I say that with three growing boys, there are RARELY leftover meats that go unused 😉 ). Come fall and winter, I’ll pull out the vegetable container and use it as the basis of a soup. I’ll look over my frozen leftover meats and decide which ones to add, as well.
The secret to refrigerator soups is the ability to just go with the flow. There is no recipe. There are no hard and fast rules. There is only flexibility in order to use up your leftovers. There are basic things to consider like what type of meat and vegetables am I using up and what liquid portion will lend itself best to those leftovers. For example, I had leftover taco meat to use up. I went with a beef and tomato liquid base for the taco meat and then added black beans and some leftover pasta. I won’t generally mix beef broth with leftover chicken but it’s personal flavor preference.
So let’s discuss the basics. There is the liquid portion, the solids and the herbs and spices. The liquid portion can be boxed or homemade stocks like beef, chicken or vegetable. When I haven’t had enough stock, I’ve stretched the liquids with tomato juice or canned tomatoes with their liquid.
Then there are the solids to your soup. The filling part so to speak. Use up what you have and challenge yourself to do just that. Like I mentioned before, there can be a cup of leftover pasta, a cup of leftover peas, combined with “new” things like potatoes. Just remember that if you’re adding raw ingredients along with leftover ingredients that you should add the raw things first and give them time to cook before adding the leftovers that are already cooked. The leftovers just need to be heated through, not truly cooked.
A note on adding herbs, spices, salt and pepper to refrigerator soups; add carefully after you’ve added all your ingredients. I have learned that if you add too many herbs and spices with your ingredients that sometimes you end up with more than you know. The leftovers carry the flavors of what they were cooked with to your soup so you might end up with too of something. I will add all my leftovers, heat through and then sample to decide on final seasonings. I will then simmer about 20-30 more minutes and serve.
There is nothing like warm, fresh bread with a bowl of soup. I love sopping up the liquid with the bread. Okay, I’m hungry as I type this blog. Can you hear my tummy growling just at the thought of bread and soup? LOL! Anyways, warm bread, slathered with butter and served with soup is one of my favorite comfort foods. Don’t hesitate to get creative with your leftovers and recreate them into a heart-warming bowl of soup for a cool night.
