Forgotten Vegetable Soup

Serving Size: 6 good bowls of soup

This soup is a fabulous cleanout for your fridge, literally having a look at what you have forgotten in the fridge veggie drawer! 

I call it a flexible framework recipe, you can use all sorts of different ingredients but the basic theory remains the same.

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, roughly chopped (use up odds and ends if need be)
• 2–4 garlic cloves, smashed and roughly chopped
• 2 cups chicken/veggie stock – use your Stock Box broth
• 2 dried bay leaves (add once you put in the stock)
• 1–1½ cups milk/milk alternative (add at last step)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Flexible Ingredients

In this recipe I used what I list below, but you can use most fridge-kept veggies, or potato or kumara – just use what you think would go together, remembering that they are all going to be whizzed up together at the end.

• 2 rashers bacon, cut up (optional)
• 1 parsnip
• ¾ very limp cauliflower (if no cauliflower or broccoli you’ll need 2 medium potatoes/kumara)
• 4 stalks celery, if leaves not too old you can add a handful, keep the others for a broth

You will need:

• Clean hands
• Chopping board + knife
• Heavy-bottomed pot
• Wooden spoon
• Wand/Blender

Method

Chop the vegetables up roughly.

Saute the bacon, onion and garlic in olive oil.

Add the rest of the ingredients and cook off a bit, for approximately 10 minutes or so. Pour in stock to just cover all ingredients.

Add the bay leaves and simmer till all veggies are tender.

Remove from the heat, fish out the two bay leaves and blend until smooth, I like to use a wand, then add 1–1½ cups milk.

Taste and season if it needs more salt or pepper.

I serve this with Cheesy Salted Scones or crusty bread and butter.

TIP: If wanting to freeze, don’t add the milk. Add it in when thawed and re-heating.