What to do with Leftover Soup!
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We haven’t been food shopping for almost 2 weeks due to a bout of ‘flu but I like to think I keep a tight ship, doncha know, so there’s been no problems.
Today I was a bit lost for something to get me cheerful about lunch but a quick glance in the fridge helped tremendously.
A couple of nights ago I had roasted tomato and chilli soup but still being a little under the weather was so pathetic I left a little. Really a little, less that 2 tablespoons, but I couldn’t throw it away. For some reason, perhaps you are the same, if I throw something away immediately I feel guiltier than if I leave it in the fridge a few days and then throw it away!
Lunch then was this modicum of soup heated up, 2 eggs broken in plus some chopped fresh coriander, scrambly, scrambly – toasted Ciabatta, red wine. All’s well.
See here for how to make perfect scrambled eggs
Soup Pancakes
This makes about five 3” pancakes.
125 g plain flour
a pinch of salt
1 rounded teaspoon of baking powder
1 egg
150 ml leftover soup
a little oil
~ Stir together the first 3 ingredients in a mixing bowl.
~ Male a well in the middle of the flour mixture.
~ Break the egg into the well.
~ Gently whisk the egg into the flour and, as it thickens, gradually add the soup still whisking, till you have a thickish pourable batter, if you run out of soup use a splash of water or milk. When all combined give an energetic whisk to aerate the batter.
~ Heat a medium sized non stick frying pan and oil lightly.
~ Pour a circle of batter in the pan and cook till the surface is pitted with little burst bubble holes.
~ Using a spatula or a deft flip of the wrist turn the pancake and cook till the other side is golden.
~ Serve immediately or keep in a warm oven till they are all done.
Soup Fritters!
The most fabulously impressive thing I ever did with leftover soup was make fritters! For a several years (not all of them consecutive!!) I ran the kitchen of The Tamarind Club in Tortola and, as anyone who knows Tortola will understand, Sunday’s at the Tamarind Club were hugely busy and no time for mucking about. Well …
… we had a group of regulars who for several days had been verging on having a celebration, I can’t remember what. Suddenly just as we were serving the last brunch dishes and cleaning down they decided they needed a party with nibbles that very afternoon. So I added handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs to the last couple of portions of the Seafood Chowder, chilled it, balled it up and fried till crisp. People, as is typical of People I find, asked for the recipe. They only do this when it is almost impossible to give one.
More Ideas for Leftover Soup
~ add to more soup!
~ use to deglaze a pan to make a sauce
~ use as a sauce!
~ see here for how to bake eggs and add a spoonful of leftover soup to each dish before adding the eggs.
~ add to stews, braises and pasta bakes
~ mash into potato
~ stir into mayonnaise – see here for all sorts of ways to flavour mayonnaise
Several of these ideas are included in my book, Creative Ways to Use up Leftovers. If these are just some of the suggestions I can think of for leftover soup don’t you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers?
Suzy Bowler
Having been a somewhat itinerant chef for over 30 years I was amazed, on my return to the UK, at the blatant food waste that now seems to be rife in the country; amazed and irritated. So much so that I decided to start a blog about spontaneous cooking from leftovers to show people that there are great alternatives to throwing food away.
One Comment
Gigabiting
Of course a ball of anything with breadcrumbs fried till crisp will be delish. Great idea though.