After the busy effort of holiday cooking, an easy, speedy dinner becomes an end-of-year treat. This week’s recipe is one I almost always make from frozen ingredients. The vegetables go straight from the freezer to the pot, without thawing first, and meld their flavors in the time it takes the pasta to cook.
I encourage you to keep all of these ingredients on hand for this and other recipes. Homemade mixtures of garlic and oil last only seven days in the refrigerator or risk developing botulism. But it’s safe to mince the cloves, pack them into ice cube trays, cover them with oil and freeze them for many months. Homemade stock lasts for up to five days in the fridge but again for months in the freezer.
Freezing locally grown onions, tomatoes and broccoli while they’re in season not only gets their prep work out of the way but also gives you the best flavor. Chop fresh or grilled onions, spread them on a baking sheet to freeze and then transfer them to freezer-safe bags so that they’re easy to break apart. If you’d rather have premeasured portions, pack chopped onions in 1-cup cube trays. Load whole cherry tomatoes directly into freezer bags. Broccoli needs to be blanched before freezing, which takes just five minutes in a steamer basket over simmering water, to avoid an off-putting flavor.
You can also make this recipe with fresh ingredients. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil to sizzle three cloves of minced garlic. Replace the smoked paprika with a minced fresh or home-smoked chili pepper. Add fresh uncooked broccoli directly to the pot, without blanching first, and cook it until softened. Vegetarians can replace the anchovies with soy sauce or miso paste but will create a slightly different flavor.
Broccoli, Tomato and Pasta Soup
Serves 6-8
1 cube frozen garlic in oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 anchovy fillets, minced
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
5 cups Homemade Vegetable Stock, thawed
3 tablespoons white wine (optional)
8 ounces frozen cherry or larger tomatoes
10 ounces frozen broccoli florets (about 3-1/2 cups)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup orecchiette or other midsize pasta
Grated Romano cheese for serving
In a stockpot, heat the frozen garlic cube over low heat, melting it slightly. Add the onion, anchovies and paprika. Raise the heat to medium and cook for three to five minutes, stirring constantly, until the garlic and onions start to brown.
Add the stock and wine, if using; stir in the tomatoes. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for five minutes, until the tomatoes thaw. Stir in the broccoli and bring the soup back to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the pasta and simmer for seven to eight minutes, or as indicated on the packaging. Once the pasta is al dente, turn off the heat and let the soup stand, covered, for five minutes before serving with grated Romano.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.