One of the most satisfying things to do when you're trying to live frugally is turn one meal in to several. Roast dinners are perfect for this, with cold meats becoming sandwich or salad fillings and any surplus, plus gravy and vegetables, heading in to a stock pot to become a warming and nourishing soup. This formula can be used with any meat or vegetarian roast you like.
I often use the carcass to make stock with onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns and salt, but when I'm time-poor, I just use an organic chicken stock cube. For the soup, I just add whatever I have in the fridge. The one pictured above was made from a roast dinner the other night. INGREDIENTS
Olive oil
2 sticks celery, chopped
1-2 sliced leeks or diced onions,
3-4 carrots, chopped
a few cloves of garlic, crushed (though there was a lot of roast melty garlic with the chicken I had roasted)
leftover chicken meat
leftover roast vegetables, cut in to smaller pieces
leftover gravy
1L chicken stock (or more if you like)
a few sprigs of thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1-2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
pasta shapes or tinned butter/cannellini beans
optional:
greens - spinach, silverbeet/swiss chard, kale, cavolo nero.. whatever you have! I didn't have anything on the day I made the soup above.
croutons made from old bread ends, fried in butter and crushed garlic
grated parmesan
Be adventurous! Soups are very forgiving and you can achieve incredible depth of flavour by adding small but powerful touches, like dijon mustard and bay leaves, or cranberry jelly or chutney.
METHOD
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or stock pot over a low to medium heat. Add the celery, leeks/onions, carrots and garlic and cook gently for about 10 minutes, until soft. Add the leftover chicken and vegetables and heat, then add the leftover gravy or gelatinous stock from the roast meat, mustard, herbs, bay leaves, salt and pepper and the liquid stock. Stir and bring to the boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes. I often leave mine simmering for considerably longer.
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