So I'm pretty obsessive about not wasting food, and that's become especially important in these days of marathon cooking. Prepared dishes I freeze, take to work for lunch or pawn off on friends. But then there are always an assortment of leftover ingredients.
Thus the theme of the weekend: cleaning out the fridge. I posted the egg frittata situation earlier today. I also whipped up some tomato sauce and decided to reinvent the filling from the chile rellenos I made for the Iron Chef party into a quesadilla. That's become one of the most fun parts about cooking for me. Getting creative and figuring out what to do with the leftovers.
One sure fire way to maximize the usage on leftover veggies is to make a soup out of them. I made this one with all things in my fridge or freezer, the highlights of which include fresh herbs, white wine and prosciutto. The beauty of soup is that's all it really is, a mish mosh of ingredients that meld together.
So here's what I came up with. May it inspire you to create your own one pot dish out of your own extra ingredients. The basic formula is meat, veggies, herbs, wine and broth. The message is to get creative and not waste anything! And I'll be ready to start restocking my fridge with all sorts of fun ingredients from my international adventures some time this week : )
Ingredients:
2 tbsps. Olive oil
About a half pound of prosciutto in chunks
5 turnips, chopped
About 2 cups of carrots chopped
About 2 cups celery chopped
1 zucchini chopped
About 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
About one half cabbage, chopped
About two cups white wine
2 tbsps. minced garlic
Four bay leaves
About 3 tbsps. fresh thyme
About 3 tbsps. fresh rosemary
Fresh ground pepper
About four cups of beef broth
2 cans cannellini beans rinsed
What to do:
Heat olive oil in soup pot and then add prosciutto. Let cook a few minutes. Then start adding the veggies one at a time in the order given (hardest to softest). Give the harder veggies a few minutes to cook before adding the next (I use this time for chopping). As the veggies cook, make sure to keep them somewhat moist. Gradually add the white wine in to make sure it doesn't get too dry.
Add the herbs and garlic and half of the beans and mix well. Puree the other half of the beans with about one cup of water and add to the pot with the beef broth. Bring to a boil and then let simmer until ready to eat. The longer it simmers the yummier it will be.
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