I made this soup out of nothing! I mean I used what I had in my fridge without bothering to go to the supermarket. But I am a person who keeps a lot of vegetables in the freezer. If I overbuy or feel there are vegetables that are not to be imminently used, I clean, chop and store them in small bags in my freezer. I know this is not the case for everybody, but you do have some vegetables handy, don’t you? Also, some canned beans? Ok, I used my leftover beans’ soup that I had in my fridge, but you can easily use canned beans. You do have some pasta, don’t you? Any kind of pasta can be put in a tea towel and mashed into small, tiny pieces using a rolling pin!
My advice is to buy vegetables at their peak season, clean, chop them and store them. Don’t buy tomatoes during winter. Buy greens! Also, if you are bored with the food you have, twist it. Make something else out of it. I had one bowl of beans. Ok, they are magnificent. But what else can I do with them?
Ingredients: 1 bowl of beans soup, 4 ripe tomatoes ready to go bad (in Greece the weather is still at 20C in some places, therefore tomatoes are edible), 50 gr of celeriac in cubes, 50 gr of mixed greens (spinach, chervils or hartworts, swiss chards, fennel), 40 gr of chopped spring onions and leek, 1 big onion chopped, 200 gr of pumpkin, 1 chili pepper, a pinch of curry powder, a pinch of ginger powder, 1 vegetables cube, ½ cup of small orzo pasta, ½ cup of olive oil. Salt
Put your pot in medium fire and sauté the onion, spring onions and leek until tender. Peel and melt the tomatoes along with the chili pepper in the food processor. Add them in the pot. Add gradually the pumpkin, the celeriac, the greens, the beans, while tossing. Add the curry powder, the ginger powder, the vegetables cube and season while tossing. Add 300 ml of hot water. Once the pumpkin is soft, take it out and melt it in the food processor. Re-put in the pot. Add some water if needed. This whole process should take you about 20min. In the end, add the pasta and cook for 10min max. Be minded that the pasta keeps cooking after you have turned off the fire. Add some water if needed.
You can melt the entire soup in the food processor, and omit the pasta, if you wish.
Close the fire and let it rest.
Enjoy with a nice soft cheese or mulled wine!