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It’s month three of my newsletter and today I bring you a recipe for what I very lovingly refer to as Trash Soup. It’s a puréed soup that uses up most of the odds and ends of the vegetables you may have accumulated in your fridge: floppy carrots, wrinkly zucchini, bruised cauliflower, half of an onion that you used a few days ago, or the remainder of a bag of frozen peas in the back of your freezer. I love this soup because it’s simple, super versatile, and a really easy way to get a ton of vegetables into your diet. I often make a big batch and eat it throughout the week for breakfast with a cup of watered down White Mountain Bulgarian yogurt on the side (I do about equal parts yogurt and water so that I can drink it). The soup is great hot or cold and is adaptable to any vegetables that are in season, which makes it a year-round staple in my kitchen.
There are a few basic rules in the making of trash soup and not all semi rotten vegetables are created equal (spoiler alert: yellowing greens like spinach and parsley are NOT delicious). So follow along if you want to learn how to make the most out of vegetables that may otherwise end up in the trash :)
Wonderful photos again courtesy of Ben Turner, whose work you can find here.
THE RULES OF TRASH SOUP
Before I give you a recipe, I want to lay some ground rules. Soup making is close to my heart; it’s usually best when it’s incredibly simple and everything is cooked together in one pot with plenty of thought and care along the way. It blows my mind that there are soup recipes out there where you blanch greens separate from the soup only to lose half the flavor and nutrients to the blanching water, which then gets dumped down the drain. What a waste!
You can absolutely use chicken or vegetable stock in soup making, but one of the coolest things about soup is that it’s usually perfectly delicious with plain old water.
As for the vegetables - you can make a totally decent and healthful soup out of pretty much any combination of vegetables, but I tend to group my trash soups into two categories for best results: GREEN or ORANGE.
I consider any white or off-white vegetables to be neutrals that can be worked into either green or orange soups.
For green trash soup I always start with a base of leek, onion, shallot, and/or spring onion and almost always include cauliflower, which gives the soup a silky luxurious texture without adding any cream or dairy, and contrasts the vegetal alkalinity of all the greens. Green soup appropriate veggies could be: fennel, turnip, celery, celery root, rutabaga, potato, frozen peas, broccoli, kale, swiss chard, spinach, artichoke hearts, parsley, green cabbage, collard greens, zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, arugula, or parsnip.
For the orange soup I again start with a base of leek, onion, shallot, and/or spring onion. Orange soup qualifying veggies could be: any kind of winter squash, sweet potato, carrot, potato, turnip, parsnip, rutabaga, cauliflower, or celery root.
Please also note that not all decaying vegetables are created equal, so here are some guidelines to follow -
Fennel - peel back or cut away any dry and papery or brown looking parts.
Turnip - totally fine to use if soggy and wrinkly, or even if the center is spongy.
Celery root - these keep forever! Just peel the hairy exterior before using.
Celery - floppy, stringy, whatever, use it all.
Potato - peel/cut away any sprouted or green bits, otherwise soft or wrinkly potatoes will do!
Frozen peas - a little icy frost is ok, but anything excessive could make your soup taste like freezer burn. When in doubt give the bag a smell - would you want to eat that or is the freezer burn too pungent?
Broccoli, kale, spinach, swiss chard, arugula, asparagus, parsley, or basically anything super green - a little wilted and floppy looking is fine, but please cut away anything yellowing. The flavor of yellowing greens is not good. Toss it!
Zucchini, summer squash, cabbage - floppy, wrinkly, no problem.
Cauliflower - trim away any moldy or brown bits, but the rest should be fine! Leaves and all.
Carrots, parsnips - floppy, soggy, all good.
Leeks - anything brown should be discarded, but floppy is fine. Use all of the greens! They add so much flavor and body to the soup.
Ever leave an orange in your fridge for a really long time? Use the juice for your orange soup!
THE RECIPE: makes about 3 quarts of soup
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup sliced leek, onion, shallot, spring onion, or any combination
2-3 smashed garlic cloves, optional
2-3 quarts 1/4 inch sliced hardy long-cooking vegetables (GREEN: I like about 1/4 of this to be cauliflower + any combination of fennel, turnip, celery, celery root, rutabaga, potato, broccoli, kale, artichoke hearts, green cabbage, collard greens, zucchini, summer squash, parsnip. ORANGE: winter squashes, sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower, celery root, rutabaga, potato, parsnip).
2-3 quarts water or stock. Also optional and very delicious is a tablespoon or so of Better Than Bouillon
Optional flavorings - GREEN: a fresh sprig of thyme or rosemary. ORANGE: ginger, turmeric, curry powder, a splash of orange juice
1-2 quart delicate quick-cooking vegetables if making GREEN soup (frozen peas, swiss chard, spinach, parsley, asparagus, arugula)
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the leek/onion/shallot/spring onion and sauté for about 6-8 minutes. Don’t let this brown. A lid on the pot can help to prevent browning by creating a steamy sauté environment. Stirring often helps, too.
Add garlic if using and cook an additional 1 minute. If using ginger or curry powder, add now so they can cook a bit in the fat.
Add the thinly sliced hardy long-cooking vegetables (I slice the veggies about 1/4 inch thick because this helps them to cook more quickly, and a shorter cook time means that you lose less volatile flavor and aroma through evaporation), season with salt and a pinch of pepper and cover by 1/2 inch of water or stock. The amount of water you will need will depend on which vegetables you use in your soup. Zucchini and fennel may need less water than potato or squash, which will add body to the soup and need to be a bit thinned out. Add Better Than Bouillon if using. This is also a good time to add any other optional flavorings if using, although none of these are necessary. Bring to a simmer and then turn heat to low and allow to cook, partially covered, until all the hardy veggies are soft enough to be crushed with the back of a spoon, this should take about 20-30 minutes.
Once the hardy vegetables are smooshable, add delicate quick cooking veggies if making the green soup and allow to cook for 2 minutes. Taste the broth and season with salt as needed. Pepper, too, if you want more.
Now we blend: ladle the soup into a blender, but be sure not to fill by more than half, or the hot soup can explode while blending. Blend on the highest setting for at least 30 seconds-1 minute to ensure that the soup is silky smooth. I find that a classic novice cook’s mistake when puréeing anything is to not blend for long enough, so let it go for a bit longer than you think and you will be rewarded. If the soup seems too thick, add a bit more water. Start with less water than you think and you can always add more. I like it to be about the consistency of thick heavy cream.
Taste the puréed soup for salt - if it’s a little flat and you’re not freaking out about how delicious it is then it probably needs a bit more salt. As always, use a little at a time, stir well, taste again. Repeat until you’re happy.
As I mentioned before, I love this soup hot or cold, and it’s really great drizzled with some really good grassy olive oil.
Trash soup will last in your fridge for about a week, or you can freeze it for a few months.