I entered the new year with a big pot of soup. I wished I would have had the gumption to fry some chicken or make a seafood platter eaten with bumps of caviar and champagne, but instead I came home after a lovely holiday in Louisiana to some busted pipes, an empty fridge, and the first of what will be many cedar fever attacks. I was sleeping on NYE by 8pm in a 2-Benadryl coma with Mean Girls softly playing in the background. I basically made this Love & Lemons soup, except without the cabbage (which I didn’t have) and instead with some turnips harvested before the big freeze that were safely stored in the fridge… which wasn’t completely empty, after all. I threw in some chopped and blanched carrots and chard from the freezer, chicken stock from the freezer, plus canned fire-roasted tomatoes from the pantry. A big handful of dill… also safely hidden away in the fridge... plus 7 or so cloves of garlic which got lazily smashed before throwing in. I opened and drained a can of cannellini beans, but after the hearty soup came together I realized it didn’t need the beans. Those got transferred to a Tupperware, covered in a glug of olive oil + red wine vinegar, for a quick snack when I need them.
Like any good soup, this one has gotten better in the subsequent days. The spicy broth and perfectly al dente and juicy turnip cubes are so full of flavor. Yesterday, I made a big pot of egg noodles which I mixed with half a stick of butter and a billion cracks of black pepper. The leftover soup… now on day 3 of its existence, got spooned over a generous bowl of silky noods.
Do you make soups like this? Please do, if you don’t. This is the exact soup I needed to greet the new year. Fuss-free, flavorful, and one that can easily feed my husband and me for at leat 3 days in a row. With a fridge full of VRDNT veggies, a soup like this is easy peasy.
Happy new year to you all. Wishing you many delicious days of nourishing vegetable-filled bowls.
-Ada B.
2023 Cooking Resolutions:
MORE OF:
More Chaos Cooking:
Maybe you’re like our friend Mackenzie and have been chaos-cooking all along.. throwing flaming hot cheetos on your leftover golden kale and collard stew (with dumplings). Or maybe you needed this newly coined term to give you permission to drum up some chaos in the kitchen. Rachel Baron describes it like this: “Framed in this way, chaotic cooking openly subverts mainstream rules for how to cook and what tastes or looks good, in a way that’s both playful and intelligent. To cook chaotically means to channel the challenges and the possibilities of daily life into your meals, with the same goal of any passionate cook: making delicious food.” Go for it. Let the chaos reign.
More Local Supply Chains.
Have you been to an Austin farmers market lately? Do yourself a favor and swing by Mueller on Sunday. There, you can find a huge variety of pantry staples as well as fresh goods, all produced locally. Seriously. We live in a big hub where growers from across our region gather to bring their goods, and it’s completely possible to eat mostly local foods, if that’s what you wanted. Simplifying your supply chain probably also means simplifying your recipes, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. (Read more: