Super Soup

Much more than the sum of its parts

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Periodically I like to show how something that I cooked was just the combination of components that I’ve already made and written about here. This soup came together in about 5 minutes, using things from the fridge and freezer, but it in no way tasted like some sort of leftover make-do situation. This was so complete, distinctive, and delicious that it absolutely ate like something premeditated, even exhaustively iterated and tested—even though it most assuredly was not.

This is a concept that I return to frequently here: when you make your own components, you have access to flavors that are simply not available to those who cook only with off-the-shelf ingredients. And when you think of leftovers as building blocks, you can combine them in ways that create new dishes with all of the layered flavors you created in the original meals reinforcing each other. This way you can use up what’s in the fridge and still keep the leftovers-averse in your household satisfied.

Let’s take a look at this soup and see what I used to create it.

• Some of my South Asian hummus-yogurt sauce, which remains one of my favorite recent inventions (first link is to the hummus, second is to the sauce)

• The blanched greens left over from making erbazzone

• a frozen stock cube

• A little dollop of my glorious sambal

• A slice of my world-famous sourdough loaf, toasted in a lightly oiled pan

That’s it—apart from dicing half an onion and sautéing it before adding the greens, hummus-yogurt sauce, and stock there was no actual cooking involved in the making of this dish. I puréed the soup before serving it, though that wasn’t absolutely necessary.

Together, you have everything a soup needs to shine (despite its earthy color):

• Leguminous protein & fiber from the chickpeas

• Deep flavor from the spices

• Tang and richness from the yogurt

• Color, complexity, and still more fiber from the greens

• Body, flavor, and liquid from the stock

• Heat and still more spice/complexity from the sambal (creating a wonderful harmony between South and Southeast Asian flavors)

• A sturdy, tasty, and crunchy utensil in the slice of toast (full disclosure: I ate this with two such slices)

This was an absolutely stellar bowl of soup. 10/10, no notes. And since it came together with things I already make regularly, it’s now something I can have in regular rotation with no additional effort required. Super nutritious, fantastic eating, and requiring only 5 minutes to prepare: that’s real cooking in the truest sense, and that’s what I’m here to teach you.