I've been sorting through the salad drawers of the fridge this morning as we are about to go away. Rather mysteriously I found a bag of salad leaves in the fruit drawer ... no wonder they've not been used ... oops!!
So, my first thought was time to make a 'pan of soup'. I rounded together everything that won't last the week we are away without turning to mush and set to chopping. I also used two stems of a very fresh looking bunch of celery, the rest will last the week easily, but I wanted the lovely flavour of some of it for this soup.
Just having those two sad little carrots in it immediately brings a splash of colour to the pan and a smile to my face. I brought it to the boil and then simmered on a lower temperature for ten minutes.
Then the bag of out-of-date salad leaves was tipped on top of the rest and left to steam as they gradually sank into the liquid.
Are you as happy as me that so many of the supermarket are actually going to be taking Best Before dates off most fruits and vegetables and at last leaving safety to our own common-sense? Although bagged salad leaves might not come under this new idea as these had a Use By date.
This gloriously green coloured soup just has to be good for you doesn't it.
It's very tasty now that I have adjusted the seasonings and is currently cooling ready to go into the freezer. I reckon I should get three good bowlfuls of soup out of those sad looking vegetables. I'm definintely getting my head into gear for at least a month on rationing.
Sue xx
I love a nice green vegetable soup. With those salad leaves I always go by the smell - if they smell of nothing they should be ok but if they have an eau de pond whiff I won't even give them to the hen
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I do miss having chickens to give all the scraps to, knowing that you are converting scraps and waste into eggs is really good isn't it. When we left Wales, we had just one laying hen left all the others had lived out their retirements and gone to the great chicken coop in the sky.
DeleteI found my way here today by way of Bovey Belle’s blog. I do a lot of what I call fridge raid cooking, but never thought to throw a bag of salad leaves into soup, but why not? The only problem I have with fridge raid cooking and the removal of best before dates etc in supermarkets is the nutrient value of the food.
ReplyDeleteDebbie in Wales
Welcome to the blog, you don't have to be mad to visit here ... but it helps ;-)
DeleteWhy not indeed, it's just a bag of leaves the same as spinach or watercress after all. I started doing this after making a lettuce soup one day and realising how tasty it was ... just a whole lettuce, one onion and a garlic clove all chopped up and cooked in stock, it was delicious.
Very nice. A hearty bowl of soup and bread, a filling meal.
ReplyDeleteI haven't got any bread in the house at the moment so it was a good job it was filling on its own, but yes it would have been even more delicious with a chunk of buttered bread to dunk in. And I always find something solid with a soup meal makes it a lot more satisfying doesn't it. :-)
DeleteSome of my favourite soups are made this way, never the same twice, they are my " shopping day soups ". I would certainly benefit from a month of rationing both pursewise and healthwise so I will probably join you. Enjoy your trip away.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's a shame that you can't exactly recreate a very delicious soup or sauce when you make things from odds and ends and they turn out so delicious. But it inspires me to keep trying :-)
DeleteThanks we are really looking forward to this break, Alan especially.
I think we had better get ourselves a little notebook and write down what we put into these things as we do them and give each one a mark out of 10 for deliciousness , you never know you might then be able to publish a book on scrappy recipes :) x
DeleteG always looks at the colour of soup before eating it. I showed him the finished pan in the photo and he said " oh no...it's pea soup, I don't like it" Then I showed him the photo of ingredients and he said " Oh, I like the look of those veg" I patiently explained that a) there was not a single pea in the soup shown and b) the veg shown was what was in the finished dish. His response? "in that case I'd eat it! " So thank you, Sue, for demonstrating that you need to give things an actual taste before you dismiss them! I'll be making something similar during the week ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased I came in handy; we do have to educate these men of ours don't we. G would be safe in my house, the one sort of soup I really don't like is pea soup ... which is strange because I like peas!!
DeleteIndeed we do 😁 And G likes actual peas as well!
DeleteEnjoy your break you two 😘
I am definitely not happy about the removal of dates from items. If I buy something with a date six days hence, I know it will be ok for six days at the very least whereas if there is no date, it might look ok today but in three days time be on its last legs. For people who shop once a week, this could mean everything needs using up within a few days with nothing left for the end of the week. I think no dates will actually cause more waste!
ReplyDeleteJust because the date says it will be okay for six days does not mean that it will though!! So much depends on how you store things once you get them home and the shop has absolutely no control over that. Having no dates on things, as long as people educate themselves just a little bit and build up some common-sense will save tons of food waste.
DeletePlease leave a first name at the end of your comment if you wish to comment as Anonymous. I am stopping publishing Anonymous comments without names in the next week or so.
I have never gone by dates on food packaging. Humans have existed for thousands of years without both packaging and someone's idea of how long the item will last. Bring back common sense! If fruit and veg are bought loose you can see the quality you're getting. As for everything else, I look at it and smell it. We had chicken last night that my sister would have chucked on the 1st of September just because .......
ReplyDeleteExactly, two of the most stupid things to have dates on are honey and salt and yet people still go off these dates and throw perfectly good food away.
DeleteIt looks delicious, good for you! xx
ReplyDeleteIt was, thank you. xx
DeleteWas celery the main flavouring agent for your soup, or did you add any spices? Great way to use up slightly unappetising veg. My fridge-bottom soups tend to have a tin of tomatoes in for cheery colouring.
ReplyDeleteNo, the stock, celery and onion were the predominate flavours, a lovely mix of the three, the leaves just added an extra umami hint. I think if I had added tomatoes to this one it would have turned a real sludgy colour. :-)
DeleteYour soup looks wonderful and shows us all that something delicious can be made from very little.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.