Looking for a way to use up all the leftover veggies from your garden, your farmer’s market trip, or just your last trip to the store? Roast a few, sauté a few, and they end up in a beautiful rich broth with fresh herbs, noodles, and lots of flavor!
I’m watching the days march on toward September and October and even though it’s been beautiful this week, even though the heat has receded along with some of the humidity, even though the garden and the woods by our house are beautifully green and lush, I’m really, really, really looking forward to fall. Cozy sweaters and big heavy mugs of soup and fuzzy cabin socks and foggy mornings and changing colors and everything good about being nice and cool and koselig, as the Norwegians call it. I can’t get down with hygge, but I’m all about koselig.
That said, there’s still plenty of room in our summer lineup for a good soup or two. We’ve had enough cool rainy afternoons around here that I don’t feel overheated chopping up a bunch of things and letting them simmer on the hot stove for an hour or two. The flavors are still splendidly summery, and I get to use up a lot of leftovers and one-off veggies from my garden. Because sometimes you’ve only got one ripe potato or one actual carrot to use and you’ve got to do something with it, right?
My favorite part of this is the combination of flavors you get from roasting half of the veggies and sautéing the others. I roast my corn and my root veggies for this soup to give them nice crispy outsides and to capture the way the herbs infuse into them that you might lose when you sauté them or boil them in a pot of broth. And then you throw in a cup or two of whatever pasta you need to cook and use up, and you’re gold.
Almost as gold as this delicious roasting pan full of seasonal goodness!
This recipe is vegetarian, not vegan. If you want to make it truly vegan, use organic vegetable broth and don’t use any butter in your pasta – I always drop some into my noodles as I’m draining them to keep them from sticking together. You might be able to use oil as well, but I’d have to experiment to be sure. I haven’t found anything that keeps noodles from sticking and adds to the flavor quite like a tablespoon of butter.
Still, it’s a heaping load of delicious garden veggies that even the carnivorous man-creatures I live with will dig into happily, and even ask for seconds.
[lt_recipe name=”Backyard Garden Veggie Noodle Soup” summary=”Looking for a way to use up all the leftover veggies from your garden, your farmer’s market trip, or just your last trip to the store? Roast a few, sauté a few, and they end up in a beautiful rich broth with fresh herbs, noodles, and lots of flavor!” servings=”8″ total_time=”45″ print=”yes” image=”https://homefrontcooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Garden-Veggie-Soup-1280-1024×683.jpg” ingredients=”5 tbsp olive oil;3 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced;1 onion, chopped;3 carrots, chopped;3 celery stalks, chopped;2 ears corn, kernels removed;6 cups low-sodium chicken broth;4 cloves garlic, minced;1 gold bell pepper, diced;2 large tomatoes, diced;2 cups cooked bow-tie pasta (or other pasta);1 tsp dried oregano;1/2 tsp salt;1/2 tsp black pepper;1/2 cup chopped fresh basil;1/2 cup grated Parmesan” ]Preheat your oven to 425F.;Dice your potatoes, corn, onions, and carrots and spread over a baking sheet. Toss with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning if you have it.;Roast the veggies on the baking sheet for 30 minutes or until they’re golden brown. I recommend stirring and flipping them at 15 minutes.;Wash, peel, and dice everything that needs it for the next steps.;If the noodles aren’t already cooked, cook according to package instructions. When you’re draining them, I like to add a tablespoon of butter and toss to keep them from sticking together, but this is totally optional.;In a large sauce or stock pan, heat more olive oil. Add the garlic and oregano and a little salt and pepper and sauté until fragrant, or about 2-3 minutes.;Add the chicken broth and bring to a light boil. Reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes, celery, and bell peppers, and let simmer about 10 minutes or until the veggies are all soft.;Add the chopped roasted vegetables and cooked noodles and heat through. Just before serving, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the chopped basil.;Serve sprinkled with parmesan.[/lt_recipe]
I’m kind of ridiculously proud of how much of this came from my little backyard garden. The corn came from a farmer’s market stand and the celery, garlic, and bell pepper from the store, but the tomatoes, onion, carrots, potatoes, and basil were all grown out in the backyard here at the house.
Here’s wishing you all an awesome week!
