Fridge Soup

Sitting here on a chilly November day, trying to keep warm, without turning on the heating, my thoughts go to eating a hot and healthy easy lunch.

Something cooked and tasty to warm the cockles of your heart.

This soup is our go to, and is exactly what it sounds like, the contents of your fridge drawers.

It is not a precise recipe I'm afraid, more of a throw it all in and see what happens!!

Soup is a great way to use up all those vegetable odds n sods lurking in the bottom of your fridge.

You start by pulling out the bottom drawers, empty those ridiculous non recyclable bags,

(its a pet peeve of mine) and throw anything away anything that is not edible, or looks like an ongoing science project!

You will also need the staples that are onions, carrots, and garlic if you have it.

Liquid stock, in whatever form you use, I tend to use Knorr's stockpots as they are easy, vegetable or chicken flavour, and oil, I prefer rapeseed.

I also had some leftover roast chicken in the fridge, so this got chopped to go in too, if using raw diced chicken, add it when you add the garlic, but it is perfectly delicious as a vegetarian soup with no meat.

Start by peeling and chopping your soup base, there are no real measurements here, its using up what you want to get rid of, but I usually start with one medium to large onion, and a couple of cloves of garlic (if you have them), and include any hard vegetables, that require a longer cooking time.

In my drawer I had a couple of red and yellow soft allotment carrots, half a leek, knob of fresh ginger which i grated, and a couple of sticks of celery that I de stringed. This is done by breaking the celery in a few places and pulling apart so you can pull out the stringy celery bits, then chop.

This mix of veg is known as a mirepoix.

Swede would join the soup at this point, but not too much as it can be overpowering.

When these are ready to cook, heat a little oil on a medium heat, in a good sized pan, (pan size depends on the amount of soup you are making) and add a couple of bits of onion, if it starts to sizzle add the remaining diced veg, but hold back the garlic as it can burn, give it all a good stir, turn your heat down, pop on a lid, and cook on low a low heat without coloring or browning, this is known as sweating.

Whilst your base veg is sweating, start to chop up your remaining vegetables, remembering to check on your already cooking veg quite regularly, to make sure it isn't burning.

I use roughly the same size portions of each different vegetable.

After 5 minutes, add your garlic, and any herbs you fancy (raw chicken would go in here). I added a few stalks of thyme I had, and a couple of bayleaves..

Let this sweat for 5-10 minutes more

Add your choice of made up stock, I used about 800 ml of boiling water, with 2 stock pots, add this to your base vegetables, and bring to a simmer, let it cook for around 10-15 mins whilst you finish chopping your remaining vegetables.

Chestnut mushrooms, kale, cauliflower, small bit of squash, a bid handful of baby spinach, parsnip, aubergines and spring onions were in my fridge drawers, the aubergines were sadly beyond saving and ended up in my compost heap.

These are all vegetables that only take 5-10 minutes to cook, and I didn't bother to chop the baby spinach as it wilts immediately. I also had parsnip, which I held off peeling and chopping until the last minute, as it can turn brown.

Add the remaining vegetables to the pan. (holding back a few sliced spring onions)

I had to add more stock, as I had loads of veg!

If you are using broccoli, courgette, potatoes, or any other type of fast cook veggies, they can be diced and added here, peas, sliced green beans, frozen sweetcorn kernels, small chopped frozen vegetables and tinned beans come into this category too.

Simmer with the lid off for 10 minutes, or until these vegetables are just cooked.

Here is where you would add cooked meat, chicken in my case, glass or low carb noodles work well here too.

Pour boiling water into your bowls, when ready to serve, empty the water.

When everything is hot, season carefully, (If using bought stock, it can be quite salty)

then, very importantly, taste your soup, if a bit under flavoured you can add another stock pot/cube, stir until dissolved, and taste again.

When you are happy with the flavour, ladle into the heated soup bowls, sprinkle with the remaining spring onion, I also had a couple of basil leaves which I thinly sliced and sprinkled over the top.

Serve and enjoy!