I learned how to make this soup from my Oma (grandmother), whose idea of giving me her recipe is this: “Oh, I just used a little of it…cut up some of that…oh, whatever you have.” Very vague. The great thing about this soup is that you can use whatever you have, and improvise for things you don’t. It’s not very precise, but no matter what you put into it, it always tastes good. I made a batch last night, and here’s what I added.
Ingredients
-2 gigantic carrots
-3 medium-sized potatoes
-1/4 of a leek
-1 kohlrabi (German turnip)
-1 stalk celery
-1 bay leaf
-dash of thyme
-dash of tumeric
-1 can chicken stock
-approx. 4 cups water
-can of pork and beans
-parsley
I diced everything, as you can see in the first picture. I put everything in except for the pork and beans, brought it to a boil, and simmered until the carrots were tender, about 30 minutes. Then I added the pork and beans and parsley. I know it sounds really weird, but my Oma sometimes puts pork and beans in her soup, and whenever she does, I really like it. It’s not like there’s pieces of pork in the can, it’s just the beans and the sauce. It gives it a tiny bit of a sweet flavor. It’s good, trust me.
So anyway, this is ‘Fly-By-the-Seat-of-Her-Pants’ soup because that’s what I feel like it is. If you don’t have a potato, add some broccoli. Or some frozen corn. Which reminds me, if you don’t have time to chop up some veggies, the frozen stuff will work just as well. I was actually planning on putting in some leftover zucchini and broccoli that we had for dinner yesterday, but I just had too many vegetables in the pot already. I would also have liked to put some pasta into this soup, but again, the pot was full. 🙂
So, this is what we’ll be having for dinner tonight! I’m actually thinking of trying to figure out a soup that I love from a restaurant here in Chicago…it’s Leona’s minestrone soup. It’s so hearty and so good, it’s my favorite. Anyone else like that one?
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