There are a few machines that have definitely made my life better. My car, my computer, my Sony Clie, my mobile phone, all of these help contribute to making my life much more efficient and pleasanter.
As you probably already know, I live in the city of Chicago. Chicago is an old city, by United States standards. Chicago has lots of two, three, four and six-flat apartment buildings have not been updated either recently or at all. While the apartments that I choose are updated, oftentimes, landlords will opt not to put in a dishwasher. As a matter of fact, out of the past nine residences I have lived in since I got married, only three had one.
With a family of five, we make lots of dishes. Loads and loads of them, in fact. Even though I sometimes don't have time, I love to cook and so most of the time, we eat in, rather than out. A year in San Diego, where I lived quite isolated in the suburbs, knew almost no one, was staying at home with a 2-year-old and my elderly MIL to keep me company. I got really good at finding where the good markets were located and the ethnic groceries were secreted away. I really learned to cook there, although I won't say I was a good cook, only that I learned to cook. Now, with the farmer's market every Sunday just minutes away and my
CSA share box with veggie leafy surprises inside and I've been cooking more than ever.
So I must say hurray to the fact that I now have a dishwasher again. It's awesome! And I found this great eco-friendly dishwasher detergent by
Earth Friendly. I just love it. I thought lavender would be a really strange scent to wash dishes with, but at the end of the day, as the kitchen is suffused with the relaxing scent of lavendar instead of really harsh, chlorine fumes and fake lemony freshness, I just love it. My dishwasher is old and unfortunately not water-efficient, but I only run it once a day to make up for it.
Me and my dishwasher. We're in love.
Now that the autumn is here and although it's not bitingly cold yet, one begins to think of cozy sweaters, crisp apples, raking leaves and playing outside in the last few warmish rays of sun before cold, cold Chicago winter sets in. To that end, I give you my world's easiest soup pseudo-recipe. I call it pseudo because it's not like I'm telling you exactly what to put or how much to put in it. Perfect for those evenings when you just want something easy to make and good for you, too. I'm kinda a loose cook. I don't measure, just chop and pour and stir away without getting too "het" up about it. And since I'm about to start working full-time very soon, I just know I'll be pulling those wilted vegetables and left-over meats out of the fridge to make quick dinner. Being Asian-American, we eat rice by the potful. We usually have rice with this soup, but often, I'll have some baguette on hand, or also good with biscuits (dumplings if you're so inclined and know how), cornbread, breadsticks, garlic bread, or any other carbohydrate vehicle! The soup takes care of your vegetable servings and can be made with pearl barley to make it extra healthy and cholesterol reducing, but the barley takes longer to cook. If you're not a loosey-goosey kind of cook, this is a perfect recipe to try out because it's really, really hard to f*ck it up!
One Pot WonderThis recipe is going to be written differently than perhaps you're used to seeing. That's because I don't know what's in your fridge and pantry right now. I'm going to list all the ingredients I usually put in, but feel free to substitute for whatever's currently about to wilt itself to death or is just sitting in your cupboard. I also keep lots of frozen veggies in the freezer because they're quick to heat up in the soup and almost as healthy for you as just-picked. Try to go organic if you can, but please, don't kill yourself over it! Remember when cutting your veggies that they don't have to be perfect, but you don't want to gag on the hugeness of them, either.- chopped onion (any kind, even green or red if you're desperate)
- chopped carrots
- chopped celery
- broccoli, cut small
- zucchini, cubed
- yellow squash, cubed
- corn (I usually have bags of frozen on hand)
- diced tomatoes (I usually used canned because they're more reliable and always on hand. Throw in the juice too.)
- tomato paste (1 teaspoon per 2 servings, so if you are making soup for 4, put 2 tsp, soup for 6 is 3 tsp, etc.)
- peas (also frozen because canned are just wrong!)
- green beans (although my family only likes them chopped up really small)
- dark green leafy veggies like kale or swiss chard, chopped small enough to not gag you when you eat them. also remove any hard stems.
- mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces (you can use dried porcini, but make sure you rinse and rehydrate first)
- small pasta shapes like orzo or tiny alphabet letters/stars/wheels usually found in the Spanish ethnic food section of your grocery store sold in little bags for like $0.79US, or you could do bigger pasta shapes like elbow macaroni, spirals, shells or my personal favorite, pearl barley. I've never used arborio or carnaroli rice in the soup, but I bet it' be good too. The pastas cook up quick, the rice if you have about 40 minutes, and the pearl barley if you've got about an hour. Or, you could use none, if you don't have any in the cupboard to use!
- water or chicken broth (rice and barley both absorb lots of liquid so plan accordingly)
- any cooked meats or protein you might hand, cut or shredded into bite-sized chunks. some that I've had good results with: steak, chicken, turkey, turkey ham, sausage, tofu
- one or two cloves of garlic, thickly sliced (thickly because if you're like my kids, you don't want to eat garlic and this way, you can get the flavor and still have them be recognizeable enough to fish out of the soup later)
- dried or fresh thyme, a pinch
- a bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- Pour your cooking oil of choice (I like olive) about 2 times around your pot. Put your pot on medium high.
- Add your small pasta, barley or rice. Cook until the pasta has a browned just a bit. It should start to smell toasted. If using rice or barley, stir until coated with the oil and then for a couple of minutes more. If you're not using any of these, that's fine and go to the next step.
- If you have tomato paste, fry up about your tomato paste. If you don't, it's no big deal, but it tastes good with it.
- Throw in your onions. Stir. When they start to soften, throw in the carrots and celery. Very lightly salt to let them sweat just a bit. This is a mirepoix. These aromatic vegetables will give you your base flavor. Don't oversalt. The salt will just let the vegetables give off a bit of water so that they will steam rather than fry. Add the garlic and you can add the diced tomatoes now, if you have them.
- After your mirepoix has softened up, add your veggies in order of length of time to cook. If you don't know, usually I will go by how hard the veggies are. The harder the veggie, the longer it will take to cook. The only caveat is broccoli. Don't throw that in and let it cook for a long time or they will become soggy and gross and not taste good at all. Saute all the veggies together, including your frozen ones for a few minutes until they seem heated up just a bit, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add your water or chicken broth. If you're really trying to cut down your salt intake, use low-sodium broth or just water. The water will taste okay, but it just won't be as savory. Add enough water to float your veggies and according to your personal preference of veg to soup ratio. I myself like my soup to have lots of veg. If you're using the barley or rice, these will absorb lots of water. Especially the barley. You could always err on the side of too little liquid. If, at the end, you don't think it's enough, just add more liquid and cook until it's heated through.
- Bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to low. Add your protein and the broccoli at this time. Throw in a pinch of the dried thyme. If you're using fresh thyme, add that about 5 minutes before serving. Toss in that little bay leaf, too, but make sure you don't eat it! It's only for flavoring and will cut your tender mouth and throat should you try to scarf it down, you pig! Cover and let simmer.
- If you are using the little pastas, your soup should simmer for about 10-15 minutes to let the flavors meld. If you are using bigger pasta shapes, add those about 10 minutes before you want serve. If you are using rice, start tasting your soup at about 20-25 minutes to see if the rice is soft. If you are using barley, start tasting at about 40-45 minutes to see if the barley is soft. Taste your soup, people. If it doesn't taste quite the way you like, don't forget to add salt and pepper. Go easy. Remember, it's always easy to add more, but it's a bitch to try to take away! To add a bit of depth you could add a splash of soy sauce. Try other spices like oregano or basil, italian seasoning. Experiment.
- That's it. It should be done. If you want to be extra luxurious, throw in a tablespoon or of butter and let it melt into the soup. Or not. Dish it into a bowl. Grab that hunk of bread and chow down.
I hope you try this soup and that you like it. Feel free to experiment. Try new veggies. Chances are, your kids won't even notice it because this soup makes them all taste good together. It's comfort food, people. It's easy, and to me, that's comforting! Let me know if you do and how it turns out!
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