If you preserved food from the garden this year you are fortunate enough to have a stockpile of goodies to choose from when preparing your holiday meal. Canned, frozen and dried foods can easily be used in recipes to create delicious side dishes to accompany your main course.
The oft overlooked course at the holiday meal is soup and it is one of my favorite things to make. We concentrate all too often on the protein course and the starch course and, in some cases, numerous starches like potatoes and noodles, a tradition that was never celebrated in my family but is common in our region. The only thing better than homemade soup is soup made from vegetables harvested from your own garden that you have taken the time to preserve for later use.
Some vegetables, like potatoes and onions, last a long time with no need to take measures to preserve them. Other vegetables, like tomatoes, carrots, peas, sweet and hot peppers, corn, beans and leeks, can easily be frozen or canned. Perhaps you froze or dried herbs from the garden, or still have some miraculously hanging on in the garden despite the cold temperatures and snow on the ground. Now is a great time to bring the flavor of summer into your holiday meal. Open the freezer and pantry doors and see whats in there. Chances are, the makings for a wonderful soup are inside.
Holiday soup doesnt have to be complicated. Labor intensive bisques are fancy and memorable. Cream based soups must be stirred often and require too much of your attention. Take it down a notch, simplify your chores and make a simple vegetable soup in less than an hour to accompany your Christmas feast.
4 tablespoons soybean or olive oil
2 cups frozen chopped leeks from your own garden
2 tablespoons finely minced garlic from your own garden
Pinch of kosher salt or other coarse salt
2 cups frozen carrots, peeled and chopped into rounds (about 2 large carrots)
2 cups peeled and diced potatoes from your own garden (any variety will do)
2 cups frozen green beans from your own garden, broken or cut into 3/4-inch pieces
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth (homemade is always best)
4 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes frozen or canned from your own garden
2 ears frozen corn from your own garden, kernels removed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup packed, chopped fresh parsley leaves (I still have it growing in the garden) Dried will do, too, but use a lot less
1 to 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Thaw all vegetables prior to making soup. Heat the olive oil in large, heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium-low heat. Once it is hot, add the leeks, garlic, and a pinch of salt and allow them to sweat until they begin to soften, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Cooking them on medium to low heat allows the flavors to develop without burning the delicate sugars that make them taste so good. Add the carrots and green beans and continue to cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes. The times stated are merely guidelines.
Add the chicken or vegetable stock, increase the heat to high, and bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat to medium and allow the soup to simmer. Once simmering, add the tomatoes, corn kernels, and pepper. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the vegetables are fork tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add the parsley and lemon juice. Season the soup with kosher salt to suit your taste.
