31 October, 2011

Refrigerator soup


So I bought a whole clump of celery for oxtail stew I made that day (which I forgot to photograph and when I had remembered, everything was eaten)  The problem is that I don't like celery.  Not on it's own at least.  But considering there are about 10 sticks of celery in a bag at least, I had to come up with a way to consume!  So I made a whole lot of different soups. (I know I could make vegetable stock and freeze but I like my food fresh when I can help it.  Plus if I'm going to have to boil something, I might as well cook it as a meal.)

Digging around in my various archives, I tried to find the article I had come across about how to cook a soup from scratch without a recipe and couldn't find it so I decided to wing it.  Afterall, it can't be that difficult, right?  And you know what?  It really wasn't that difficult!

Refriderator soup
Ingredients
1 yellow onion chopped up
1/2 red onion chopped up
1 rib of celery chopped up 
2 large carrots chopped up
3oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic minced
4 cups of chicken stock
1/2 tsp mixed herbs (Masterfood)
1/4 tsp peppercorn
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup red wine
2 tbs tomato paste

Method
  1. Place poricini mushrooms in 1 cup of hot water for 10 minutes
  2. Sautee the garlic and onions in olive oil until translucent
  3. Add carrots and celery and sautee until tender.
  4. Pour in poricni mushroom and stock and bring to a boil.
  5. Add herbs and tomato paste and simmer the soup.
  6. Add red wine towards the end of the cooking.
Tips
  1. If you don't have much time and don't like the sharp taste of celery, use a blending wand and blitz it up for a thicker soup or keep it overnight for the celery to absorb all the flavors.  Alternatively, boil to a mush.
  2. Adjust herbs and wine according to taste.  Be adventurous.

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