It’s time yet again for 5 Ingredient Friday and today I’m sharing my leftover crudite soup recipe that insures that non of those post-party leftovers go to waste. I love this soup for so many reasons: it’s simple, quick, healthy, and clean all without sacrificing great flavor or creamy texture. I have made this soup countless Sundays when the fridge is packed with raw veggies left over from a Friday night cocktail party or Saturday supper. I love serving crudite and a homemade dip whenever we have guests around and even keep a try of cut veggies in the fridge at the start of the week to snack on whenever I get that “crunchy” craving it helps deter me from making a mindless snack dent in the chip bag.
The key to this soup is in the ratio of chopped veggies to broth, but also in understanding the importance of the carrots that are providing the starch, sweetness, and richness to this soup. Secondly your all purpose seasoning blend is of utmost important, as you need a blend that is heavily weighted towards powdered garlic, onion, dry mustard, ground cumin & coriander, and dried herbs like thyme. *Tip: you know the blend is heavier on these ingredients if they are listed first*
So try out this soup over the weekend if you are entertaining or tuck it away for post-Thanksgiving when the fridge is barely able to shut with all the leftovers. Just think of all the excess broth and stock you end up throwing away each year! Well now you don’t have to, and you’ll be grateful for a detoxifying soup after all the holiday indulgences.
Ingredients
5 cups Leftover Crudite Blend:
(2 cups chopped carrots, 1 cup chopped celery, 1 cup chopped red pepper, 1 cup deseeded grape tomato)
1 diced white onion
1 bunch fresh parsley leaves and stalks
2 tablespoons all purpose salt free organic seasoning blend like this one from Frontier
Method
In a medium pot fitted with a lid (I like to make my soup in
this La Creuset Dutch Oven) add two tablespoon olive oil, and warm over medium-high heat. Add your blend of chopped crudite, the chopped white onion, and season with salt and pepper. Cook the veggies until soft and fragrant, stirring every minute until the onions are soft and translucent, but not colored (i.e. getting brown).
Reduce the heat slightly and add the entire container of stock, the bunch of parsley leaves and stalks, and two generous tablespoons of the seasoning blend. Stir and bring to a rolling simmer before, reducing the heat to a soft simmer and close the lid. Let the soup cook for 15 minutes, checking every few minutes under the lid, and gently stirring. At about 15-20 minutes the flavors should have nicely combined and the veggies gotten nice and soft. Transfer the mixture carefully to a
Vitamix or heavy duty blender, and blend in batches until very smooth, be sure to be careful that the blender lid does not shoot off with the heat- you can do this by taking a thick dish towel
these are my life long favorites and placing it on top of the lid, holding it down while you blend.
Transfer the pureed soup to the wiped down pot on the stove, and taste. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and determine the texture- if it needs to be thinner, add a little water or extra stock. If it needs to be thicker try cooking it down a little on the stove for 10 minutes, or you can add a 1/2 cup or so of unsweetened almond milk if you are craving a bit of depth. Otherwise, you can always add some of the soup back to the blender and throw in some more chopped carrots and transfer the resulting thick puree to the pot of soup and stir to finish.
What do you do with leftover veggies? Juice them? Bake them? I’d love to know- leave me a comment bellow or tweet me
@thesuppermodel !
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