Monday, July 19, 2010

'everything but the kitchen sink' soup

Too lazy (and cheap) to go grocery shopping yesterday so found myself ransacking the refrigerator for last week's CSA remnants.  This soup is weird but tasty, and even better the next day served cold.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink Soup:

Cooking oil
Bunch small purplish/reddish onions, chopped
Red pepper flakes to taste
A small eggplant, diced
Green beans, chopped into 1-inch lengths
Some unknown greens -- really thick stems and frilly curled leaf edges -- torn into small pieces sans stems
Most of a head of lettuce, torn into pieces
Chicken broth
Some parsley
Some mint
2 itty bitty cucumbers

Saute the onions and red pepper flakes in oil over medium-low heat.  I've been using coconut oil lately and it's subtle and delicious and smells really good.  Add the beans and the eggplant and cooked till softened.  Add a little bit of broth and the unknown greens and stir, then leave covered for a little while so the greens wilt.  Add the parsley and the mint and the lettuce and enough broth to cover, and let cook for a little while.  Add the cucumbers and blend in the soup pot with a stick blender.  Refrigerate long enough to chill, add the bit of cream or milk or yogurt, salt and pepper to taste.

Like I said, this turned out rather strangely.  But it has the potential to be delicious.  I would cut way back on the mint, add some garlic at the beginning, and maybe put through a food processor to blend to a smoother consistency.  And of course the joy of it is that none of my CSA goodies went to waste this week, and are now in a form that could either be frozen indefinitely or at least keep in the refrigerator for another few days.  Maybe I'll even bring some to work tomorrow for lunch.

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