Monday, January 11, 2010

Soup Night

This winter I am doing soup night once per week. It is a great way to use up those lingering vegetables that used to go bad in the fridge, as well as the noodles and random pieces of meat left over from previous dinners. I always start by sautéing onions and chopped mushrooms in the pot with some olive oil, then just start throwing stuff in. Last week I used some zucchini, left over breakfast sausage, BBQ'd chicken and half a can of white beans that was in the fridge. Once that is all softened and sizzling, I add chicken stock, some spices (haven't yet gone wrong with poultry seasoning and some basil) and let it simmer. Of course, the longer it sits there on low heat, the better it tastes, so I try to get the majority of the soup done during nap time. Right before we eat I throw in noodles and let them cook for a bit. The best part is that it always tastes good, no matter how random the list of ingredients!

Of course, a sprinkling of Pecorino jazzes the whole thing up. This is my latest obsession - seems my stomach can handle it since it is made with sheep's milk instead of cow's.

Always yummy and the perfect way to wrap up a cold (I know you non-Cali's are laughing at me) winter day. How about you - any good soup recipes? And ingredients you swear by?

2 comments:

Pamela said...

I'm totally trying this tonight with leftover pork chops, left-over black-eyed peas & whatever else is in the fridge :) Thanks for the great idea!

emgray said...

I do soup night once a week too! Tonight is chicken soup with rice. So easy: onion, chicken stock, throw in some carrots and celery, left over shredded chicken (rotisserie works well), and rice. Nothng fancy but good and easy! I always make homemade stock with left over rotisserie chickens. Makes a lot and I freeze in gallon ziplocks. Nice to always have on hand.