Persistent Vegetative Soup
December 8th, 2008Fling Ingredients at Will
I have been worried that I don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables. I have made a real effort, but there are days when my only vegetable is a nuked potato with butter. Luckily, this morning I remembered I had a bunch of rib-roast bones and a bacon wreath in the freezer.
Why is this lucky? Because these are things you can use to flavor vegetable soup.
The wreath is something I created when I was making bacon grease for Thanksgiving. I nuked a bunch of bacon strips laid out in a circle, and they contracted into a nice coherent ring. I also refer to these as “bacon pucks.”
I tossed these items in a pot containing tomato soup, and I proceeded to add vegetables.
Here’s a question: is it even possible to make bad vegetable soup? I have no recipe. I throw things in almost at random. It’s always good. Here’s what I used today:
Bones from 6-pound rib roast
bacon wreath
bottle of cheap tomato juice
can of cheap corn
2 cans cheap peas
3/4 head of cabbage, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
2 yellow squash, diced
4 red potatoes, diced
1 lb. fresh green beans, broken
1/2 cup wild rice
1 Jamaican hot chocolate pepper, sliced
sea salt
splash of Carlo Rossi Paisano
2 cloves garlic
water
I think that’s it. It’s blerping away on the stove. I may have to adjust it later. I suppose I could throw in some herbs. The only fresh ones on hand are rosemary, thyme, and sage. I have fresh oregano, but it tastes disgusting. I hate to admit this, but after tasting thyme over and over, I am still not quite sure what it tastes like. It’s one of those flavors that are so boring it’s hard to remember them.
I have another question. Are we buying cans from China now? Seems like every time I try to open a can, it folds up so the opener misses some places in the lid. Something is wrong, and it smells Chinese.
December 8th, 2008 at 1:48 PM
You need one of those can openers that cut through the rim overlap rather than punching through the top. They leave no sharp edge and you can put the lid back on to use it as a leftovers contain.er
December 8th, 2008 at 1:49 PM
These wimpy cans don’t work with that kind of opener! It’s horrible!
December 8th, 2008 at 2:19 PM
Yes, you can ruin vegetable soup. You tossed things into a pot containing tomato soup. Did YOU make the tomato soup? If not, all is lost. Canned juice, okay; canned soup, not okay. The rest might make it with your ingredients, except for the bacon! Thyme is like weak oregano, it might work, if that’s what you want. No to the rosemary. I don’t see an onion listed there, or celery. Celery is not essential but onion is. If you want a link to recipes where you can use your herbs go to my groups page Rockportherbs.com.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:29 PM
It’s not even soup. It’s juice.
.
I didn’t feel like onions today.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:45 PM
“I have been worried that I don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables.”
Ummmm… thats what animals are for, Steve:
They eat the grains, fruits and vegetables for you – and Its already processed for you when you have that T-bone Steak.
Us carnivores need to keep our perspective and where we are on the food chain, ya know…
December 8th, 2008 at 3:08 PM
No okra?
December 8th, 2008 at 5:26 PM
Who is Will?
V/R J West
December 8th, 2008 at 5:30 PM
“Are we buying cans from China now? Seems like every time I try to open a can, it folds up so the opener misses some places in the lid.”
.
I can think of a number of solutions that you should have ready at hand:
.
1. Air-Hammer powered by your industrial air compressor.
2. Impact drill with a universal bit (the cone-shaped kind).
3. The Desert-Eagle on a Gun-rest with a tupperware catch-tray (you know you want to).
.
Or maybe now is the time to buy that metal bandsaw?
December 8th, 2008 at 10:19 PM
The only odd thing I see is that a lot of people start with a mirepoix when making soups. Basically, it’s like trinity (for you cajun folk), but with carrots instead of green pepper. I don’t know this first hand, but from the coworker who went through culinary school. Mirepoix is a classic start in stocks, hundreds of years old. The old ways are the best ways sometimes.
Contradicting myself completely… One thing I really like is chopped up roast turkey breast, some stock, drained canned corn, and drained and rinsed can of black beans (I learned about the rinsing the hard way). Add cumin and cayenne, and you’ll have something chili like that will annoy the hell out of all of Texas.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:19 PM
It’s blerping away on the stove
Snork! That describes the sound perfectly!
December 9th, 2008 at 12:15 AM
Its a little hard to feature vegetative soup without an onion and celery.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:17 AM
Okra a must. So are onions. Tomato soup…ugh! Chicken broth rather than water, altho water is ok. Cabbage scary because the next day it looks REALLY bad. Also, it can be a bit overpowering. Peas good. Hunks of corn fun. Everything else you used great. I call this kitchen sink soup. The bacon ring is interesting. I usually just brown up hamburger but bones are good. Thyme good (don’t know why). Oregano is going to make it taste like spaghetti sauce. Bay leaf can be good but be careful…it can be overpowering. Also, my husband says that vegetable soup requires peanut butter sandwiches on the side.
December 9th, 2008 at 8:40 AM
Forgot celery and a can of tomatoes.And what Ted says. Rinse.
December 9th, 2008 at 3:52 PM
“The only fresh ones on hand are rosemary, thyme, and sage.”
If only you had Parsley to go with these…
December 13th, 2008 at 11:34 PM
I’ve found it really difficult to make a veggie soup that isn’t good – and I’ve tried. I’d recommend frozen veggies rather than canned, tho. Avoids that whole can opener problem and they’re fresher and more nutritious, being flash frozen right out of the field and not cooked already.
Also, for stock, when there is none on hand, try Better Than Bullion. My fave for soups is the Ham base. Now I gotta go try a bacon wreath – a perfect addition to any Christmas dinner table, doncha think?