Supercharge your meal plan
Simple soup recipe is a springboard to several sides, sauces
Ilove recipes. Though I teach classes on improvisational cooking, I’m happy for the guidance recipes provide: They set us up with a collection of ingredients that go well together and teach us a bit about technique.
At the same time, in their specificity, recipes may limit how we think about ingredients, by calling for precise amounts and preparations that lead to food waste and inefficiency. Besides leftovers or when we batch cook, one recipe does little to help us get a head start on another meal.
I think this should change. So how can we benefit from a recipe’s specific instruction and, at the same time, use it as a cooking resource rather than just a path to a specific dish? How can we turn that recipe into a jumping-off point to make us more efficient, wasteconscious and help develop our off-the-cuff cooking mind-set? gy.we can do this by embracing my recipe “supercharge” strate
Below, I walk you through how to make a light but robustly flavored soup and then show you how you can take steps toward making a second (or even a third) dish — often at the same time you’re working on the original dish.
If you want to make “supercharging ” a habit, you may have to retrain your brain a bit. To start, try making this soup and the recipes that grow from it. This way of cooking is not only good for your schedule, your wallet and the planet but also easy and gratifying to sustain.
For instance, while making the soup:
Cut, chop and grate extra ingredients the recipe calls for, then use them in a fresh way: Mince extra garlic or ginger, grate extra cheese or wash extra herbs to save time on future dishes. For example, the ginger goes into the Gingermiso Dressing, and the garlic and herbs (leaves and stems) in the Caper-herb Sauce (see recipes below). Feeling ambitious? Knock out these sauces while the soup simmers and use them for another day’s meal.
If you want to make ‘supercharging’ a habit, you may have to retrain your brain a bit. To start, try making this soup and the recipes that grow from it. This way of cooking is not only good for your schedule, your wallet and the planet, but also easy and gratifying to sustain.
Buy extra ingredients for another dish:
While the soup is simmering, boil the extra potatoes for Crisp Smashed Potatoes (see recipe below) and smash them while still warm. If not using them immediately, refrigerate them for up to 3 days. Once roasted, slather with or dip into a sauce, such as the Caper-herb Sauce.
Batch-cook just one foundational step of a recipe:
Why not cook double the aromatics for the soup (leeks cooked with butter, garlic, ginger and miso) to create the foundation for another dish? In this case, you would double-up the ingredients in steps 2 through 4 of the soup recipe, removing half of the cooked leek mixture (1 1/2 cups) and leaving the rest in the pot to resume making the soup. You can freeze these extra aromatics for making another round of the “original” soup or for a sauce, such as the Lemon, Herb and Coconut Sauce (see recipe below). Think about this option the next time you’re cooking onion, bell pepper and celery for a Cajun dish or sofrito for a picadillo.
Sometimes, recipes are already written with “batchsteps.” Take advantage of that: In the soup, I have you make more Mustard Seed Butter than you’ll need because it is easier to make it in this slightly larger amount. Don’t let it go to waste. Use it to make super-simple dishes by pouring it over roasted asparagus (pick up extra while you’re shopping for the soup). Or, dollop the butter onto a baked sweet potato. Not in the
mood to turn on the oven? Slather the seasoned butter on a ham sandwich, melt a spoonful on top of a pan-seared salmon, stir it into scrambled eggs, or drizzle onto blanched green beans or radishes.
Now that you’ve read through the soup recipe and my supercharging tips, let’s put those ingredients and extra preparation to good use.
Ginger-miso Dressing
You’ve minced extra garlic and ginger, so let’s make this dressing with it. I like to toss it with romaine lettuce and grilled chicken. You can add parmesan cheese and sesame seeds, too.
How to make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic, 2 teaspoons grated ginger, 1 tablespoon yellow miso, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sesame oil, 4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, and 2 teaspoons sugar. Store the dressing in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Makes a scant 1⁄2 cup.
Caper-herb Sauce
You’ll have an assortment of your freshly washed herbs left from the soup, so make this sauce to use on smashed, roasted potatoes (below) as well as grilled vegetables or meat.
In a food processor, blend 1 packed cup of mixed herb leaves and stems (from soft herbs, such as parsley, dill and cilantro), 1 clove of garlic, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of capers and 6 tablespoons of good olive oil until a smooth paste, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl, and stir in 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, another 6 tablespoons of olive oil and salt to taste. If not using right away, store the sauce in the refrigerator, in a container covered with a thin layer of olive oil to prevent discoloration for up to 1 week. Makes about 1 cup.
Crisp Smashed Potatoes
Potatoes are so versatile. When I make this soup, I douPlease see SUPER E3