The weather of late has been a bit…spastic. In general it’s been COLD but, of course there are those days where there’s a bit of a warm snap: 50s and sunny (hope that winter is over?), and the next day there’s negative temps and a windshield Eskimos are more accustomed to than people living below the Mason-Dixon Line. Brrrrrrrrr.
Answer to being cooped up inside (and still freezing because you know natural gas/propane prices have skyrocketed): soup! And not just any soup, but a veggie soup made with things found in the pantry/fridge/freezer, ’cause you know going outside just isn’t an option.
The trick to making a good vegetable soup is the seasoning. Does that surprise you? I bet you all were thinking I’d say it was all about the veggies, and while having fresh veggies is always good – this soup is all about throwing what you have in a pot and making it work. This is the “I’ve been trapped in the house for days and still can’t make it out of the neighborhood to get to the store” soup. Easy soup; big subtitles.
Anywho, the seasoning: it’s all about what you add to the soup to boost the yum factor. For me that’s some garlic, cracked black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. I don’t add any additional salt – even when using reduced sodium broth I find that there is plenty of salt to go around. But that’s me, maybe you need a little bit more of salt to really “feel” the soup – or maybe you like to go full on Italian seasoning, or Mexican (bell peppers and maybe some jalapenos), or even Asian (baby corn, anyone?). Like so many recipes, having a great base is all you need to stretch you culinary prowess in the kitchen and take a drab meal into haute cuisine.
Serve up a big bowl of this amazing (and good for you, to boot) soup with a hunk of crusty French bread and get warmed to your toes.
Kitchen Sink Veggie Soup
Ingredient:
4 cups fat free broth (I used beef)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can green beans
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery
1 medium zucchini, diced
1/4 – 1/2 cup onion, diced
fresh cracked black pepper
1 pinch crushed red pepper flake
EVOO
Directions:
Heat one TBSP of EVOO in the bottom of a dutch oven over medium heat. Once warm saute onions until translucent (somewhere between 3 and 5 minutes), add garlic and continue to saute until fragrant. Next add celery, carrots, tomato paste, black pepper and crushed red pepper flakes stirring to mix well. Cook for about three minutes, constantly stirring so the tomato paste mixture doesn’t burn.
Next add green beans (I drained mine first) and canned tomatoes, stirring to combine.
Add broth to mixture and bring to a rapid boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for at least and hour.
Taste test, adjust seasoning if need be and dig in!
Happy Surviving Snowpocalypse,
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