Lorette C. Luzajic
Sunday Soup
By Lorette C. Luzajic
Sunday Soup
Making soup on Sunday afternoon is one of my longstanding traditions. This is where I let the spirit guide me and come up with new concoctions. It is also the best method I have found for using up bits and pieces of food that may go to waste, and ensuring a pot of healthy and accessible eating for the week, should money or time be sparse. I can use up things I didn’t get around to including in a menu, or include an item I didn’t quite know what to do with. It’s a kind of “see what happens soup” that teaches me through experiment what kind of things work or don’t. By having a similar appointment in your own kitchen, you will find for yourself that creativity leads to some fascinating brews and you’ll try new things.
Sunday soup usually begins with something basic, like sautéing onions and garlic in coconut oil or olive oil. I add whatever is hanging around that won’t make it to a bigger menu, like a few stalks of celery or a spare carrot. There may be a lone sweet potato rolling around in the pantry, and I will chop that in. There’s a piece of roast left, so I tear it into small pieces. The cilantro or parsley needs to be used up, so in it goes. I don’t have any plans for a turnip or the half cabbage. This is the place to get vegetables into you and your family that you may not usually use. Use them. Don’t be afraid. Buy a weird vegetable that you don’t know what to do with, and get it into your Sunday soup.
Try collard greens or kale, zucchini, eggplant, squash. Scrape the corn off of the one remaining cob. Throw in any leftovers from Saturday’s lunch. Be daring and try something you might not think of- there’s two eggs left in the carton, so mix them with some broth and water and add them to your soup. This adds flavour and protein if your soup is meatless. Soup is the place to sneak beans and legumes in painlessly. Do it. Vary the type of bean every week. Get rid of those small frozen portions of veggies that are left in the freezer.
Your grandmother would never have used a soup cube, and neither should you. They’re made of plastic, flavoured to taste like something, and totally devoid of nutrients. Start picking up bones at a nearby butcher, and get that old-fashioned broth into you. Simmering stock with bones means your soup will contain unparalleled nutritional value. “Science validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain,” writes Sally Fallon in her amazing piece, Broth is Beautiful. (http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html). Broth is easy to make and inexpensive, and making it part of your Sunday soup habit will ensure health and flavour!
Sunday soup can be a chunky stew, or blend the whole thing into a nice puree. You can add milk or cream for “cream of vegetable” or a cauliflower to create the creamy effect, or both. No one will know after it’s blended. Or blend part of the soup and leave part of it chunky. This is particularly delicious.
Get some spices and herbs into your soup. Experiment freely here. Use turmeric and some curry if your soup has squashes and potatoes inside of it. If there’s meat, use paprika. Try some caraway seeds. Bay leaves are always a good bet. Try sage, terragon, basil, marjoram, cayenne pepper, dill. Stick with a few at a time, and taste along the way. You won’t ruin the soup- just add sparingly and then increase flavours to taste. If the flavours aren’t melding, throw in a few tablespoons of butter. The vitamin A content and the good fat helps the body absorb nutrients from vegetables and helps to marry the flavours.
Let your soup simmer for a few hours, then stand to cool. Refrigerate over night. Tomorrow you will have a winning soup. Some Sundays will yield a more delicious soup than others, but you will always have a nourishing pot of food. Freeze a few portions so you have ‘fast food’ on hand when you need it. You will learn along the way what works and what doesn’t. This is a quick and invaluable way to gain cooking experience and include vegetables in every week.
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