Cheapo Recipes

OK, this is NOT how I make roasted vegetable soup. I don't get throwing them out, for starters, and I don't want to spend all that time. So, I'd just go as far as the making the stock stage, stop when it tastes good, and, you know me, add some nice sausage (patties, leftover chicken bits, whatever), maybe some sliced mushrooms, and some broken up pasta and cook until the pasta is done.



but here's a how to do it the right way recipe from the LA Times...

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-encore031408-rec1,1,454354,full.story

Recipe: Roasted vegetable soup

Total time: 2 hours, 50 minutes

Servings: 4 to 6 servings

Roasted vegetable stock

2 cups diced onion

2 carrots, scrubbed and diced (about 1 cup)

3 stalks celery, diced (about 1 cup)

6 whole peeled cloves garlic

2 cups peeled, diced celery root

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 leeks, white part only

10 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

3 to 4 sprigs thyme

3 to 4 sprigs parsley

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms

2 Yukon Gold potatoes

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss together the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and celery root with the olive oil, salt and pepper in a large baking pan. Roast 35 to 45 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned, stirring occasionally.

2. Place the roasted vegetables in a tall 8-quart stockpot. Cut the leeks into quarter-inch slices and add them to the pot. Add the peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, parsley and dried mushrooms. Peel the potatoes and add the peels to the pot. Cut the peeled potatoes into half-inch dice, cover them with cold water, and set aside to use in the soup. Add 10 cups cold water to the stockpot.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer 45 minutes.

4. Remove the pot from the heat. Strain the stock through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, lightly pressing the vegetables with the back of a spoon to extract juices. Discard the vegetables. You will have about 8 cups of stock.

Soup

2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms

4 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Kosher salt

White pepper

1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced carrot

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup dried small white beans

8 cups roasted vegetable stock

3 cups coarsely chopped savoy cabbage

Yukon Gold potatoes, reserved from stock recipe

1/4 pound each green beans and yellow beans, stems removed, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces

Sliced, toasted French bread

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the sliced mushrooms in a bowl with 4 teaspoons olive oil, one-eighth teaspoon salt and a pinch of white pepper. Place in a baking pan and roast for about 13 minutes, until tender and lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let stand.

2. Saute the onion, celery and carrot in 2 tablespoons olive oil in a tall 8-quart stockpot until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 1 minute.

3. Add the white beans, vegetable stock, cabbage and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the drained potatoes and the mushrooms during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

5. Add the green and yellow beans during the last 15 minutes of cooking and simmer until the beans are crisp-tender. Season to taste with salt. Serve the soup with toasted French bread brushed with good olive oil.

Each of 6 servings: 271 calories; 8 grams protein; 30 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams fiber; 15 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 451 mg. sodium.

Good grief. Do people really take that much time and effort to make soup?

I brown hamburger or cheap roast bits or any other cheap meat, cover with water and simmer until tender. Throw in whatever is in the fridge or pantry--cut up potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, cabbage, or whatever is available--maybe dump in a can of V-8 juice for stock--salt and pepper and maybe some garlic and/or a bay leaf or two--simmer until the veggies are tender and the wonderful smell forces you to eat it. Prep time - 10 minutes. Cook time, probably a couple of hours.

Yummie good tho.

Oh, sometimes I cheat by adding broth. I just like the taste of roasted vegetables themselves.


On freezers. I did have an upright freezer in the basement of my house in northern california, but my gas/electric bill was sky high due to a rather primitive furnace for much of the time I lived in that house, so I pulled the plug on the freezer early on. Waaaaaah!


Now I'd like to have one of those half freezers you can buy separately...

I don't, Foxfyre. Phooey on that. But I do roast veggies just to have, and then do throw some of them in a pot with water and sometimes broth.

I did have a friend who made an all-day giant pot of stock with all sorts of bones from the butcher and a bunch of dry vermouth (was it a quart? well it was a very large pot) and some onions, carrots, celery, and then he'd cool it, defat it, strain it and use it for a meat based soup the next day, involving additional meats, rutabagas, sauteed onions, celery, carrots .... so his soups were two day efforts at the least. Very rich, very good. But not me....

Roberta, sorry for adding confusion - I pointed to Bittman's chicken recipe not for how to cook a butterflied chicken (and I disagree with him re needing a brick or heavy skillet to get it lie flat, just cut it some more) but for possible variations in spices and marinades.

You don't have to roast chicken high, for however shortly, whether it's in pieces or whole or butterflied. I shoulda just found a list of marinades...

about marinating -
http://homecooking.about.com/od/specificdishe1/a/marinadescience.htm


zillions of marinades -
http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/ubbs/archive/category.cgi?category=MARINADES


more marinades -
http://www.about.com/food/rSrch.htm?zIsPG=gSrch&terms=marinades&cu=-&co=-&x=50&y=9

To butterfly flat, you can also skewer through one leg and a wing on each side. Works for me. Kelly always used a brick because "Martha" (stewart) did (he only watched that one show, thank God)... I find a brick ruins the skin where it's laying on it, so I just skewer.

My only past experience with marinating is that same fellow, Harvey, believed that marination was a two step process. Before, say, grilling swordfish, he'd marinate it in some white wine and a dab of mustard, probably salt and pepper, I can't remember, for fifteen minutes, and then add some olive oil, to "stop the marination".
Then grill it. No long time deal.

And then I've done the lemon chicken dish noted earlier. One can get too much lemon. I've learned not to do it with too much lemon for too long. (You may notice that one doesn't have oil added.)

Buy a small beef roast, maybe 3 pounds, that's suitable for a pot roast, cross rib, blade, rump, etc. Braise it, making sure that you make gravy. Freeze half the roast and half the gravy, separately, for up to 2 - 3 months.

If you eat pot roast for a couple of days, you'll probably be tired of it, so if you have any left, you can make a French dip sandwich the next day, for some variety.

Use the frozen beef and gravy later on to make shepherd's pie, for example. We often use our leftover roast beef to make shepherd's pie. Foxfyre posted a recipe. Here's one that's a little different, using the leftover beef, gravy and adding vegetables.

Shepherd's Pie (Serves 4)

1 lb. cooked roast beef, in small cubes
1 cup leftover gravy
2 tbsp. Butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 clove of garlic
1/2 cup peas or corn
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pound thick mashed potatoes

Sauté the onion, carrots, celery and garlic over low heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the gravy. If the gravy is very thick, thin it with boiling water. Add the peas or corn. Heat until bubbling. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Follow the same method that Foxfyre posted regarding the mashed potatoes.

Grazie, tutti.

mckenzie, Three pounds! That's enough for an army--albeit a very small and not very hungry army. Not to worry. I'm good at converting amounts.

Here's an easy chicken recipe -- completely coat pieces of chicken (whatever you like; I get thighs) with nonfat plain yogurt. Arrange on a baking sheet and place in a 350 degree oven.

Cook for one hour. DON'T OPEN THE DOOR! The chicken will be brown and crispy, juicy inside -- and it's also good cold the next day.

Thanks, Wy. Sounds like something I can do.

Just reread this thread, which was a good one. Some savers in there..

In fact, I finally caught on that I could eliminate some of my overcrowded top of the refrigerator small freezer by turning some of those roasted vegetable containers into veggie stock. Duh!!