Leftover Soup, Good Stock, Good Gravy, and Ideas for using up leftovers

Despite my intention to have Sunday lunch yesterday when it came to it OH was not in the mood for Sunday lunch.  So he took a rain check on it and I have cooked it tonight instead.  This evenning we have been lucky to have had roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, lashings of gravy, Kale, peas, Broccoli, Cauliflower, carrots, mashed potatoes and roast potatoes.  I also cooked extra veg with the intention of not having to cook fresh veg tomorrow and just to ping both meals in the microwave.  However OH has tucked in, and what was left was not enough to serve one. I think he was hungry.  I do like a man with an appetite. I must say that tea was extremely tasty, and I have eaten more than I usually do to the point I am now stuffed.

Rather than waste the leftover veggies, it is going into my soup kettle to form the basis of Leftover Soup, which as its name suggests, makes something out of nothing as the base.  There are no potatoes left at all there is a mixture of carrot, broccoli, kale, peas and cauliflower.  There is also a load of gravy. Half of what is left of the gravy will go for the main meal tomorrow but the rest will go into the soup with additions of course. I always make loads of gravy from the meat juices.  There is also plenty of meat.  

However, this is a veg only soup and with the addition of some onion, more carrot, some leek and some shredded cabbage should bulk the soup out and give it a lot more flavour.  I intend serving this as a starter tomorrow night before the second round of Roast beef, this time with fresh veggies.  However, equally I could turn it into a form of Bubble and Squeak and serve it with sliced beef and then gravy.

I was considering making a form of Beef Olives with some sage and onion stuffing (basically you make a little of sage and onion stuffing up, I usually include extra chopped raw onion and a little fried onion) and then cut the beef in slices and then smear a little of the stuffing on each slice of meat and then roll it and cover it with gravy then warm through in the oven) then serve with your choice of vegetables. However, the jury is out on that at the moment as to whether or not that will happen.  The reason being I like this but I am not so sure OH will.  It is a meal I grew up with.  

In reality I will probably with the second round of the Beef serve some Yorkshires, steamed potatoes, peas, carrots and cauliflower. Or even a broccoli and garlic cheese. 

My Nan and my mum were both hot on gravy and making the most of the vegetable juices and the meat juices where most of the flavour from whatever you are cooking goes and I was taught to make gravy the old fashioned way.  

Quite frequently, every so often I will make a roasted vegetable base up which I then put through the food processor and then with some stock make it into a really tasty gravy base and then freeze it.  Then I grab a tub when I am cooking and use that as a base and add to it to get as flavoursome a gravy as I can.

Leftover soup is something that my Nan was always keen on and quite simply it makes the best and gets the best out of the ingredients you have before you and on a cold winter's day gives you extra padding from the inside out.  Homemade soup though always has far more flavour, is more filling and is better for you in the long run.

If there is any meat left after tomorrow night's tea OH could well be taking beef and horseradish sarnies to work the following day or if there is still quite a bit left over then it might be turned into something more creative.  No matter what, we will have had the best out of the food we are lucky to have to eat and which is there to be eaten.

I have been raised the old-fashioned way and I am grateful that I have been as over the years it has stood me in good stead.  Half the battle is learning about each individual ingredient and working out what suits your palate and your family's likes and dislikes.  You will have failures and successes along the way, but the more you get used to your ingredients the more successes you will have.  When I first started cooking I was given the advice to start with, learn two or three dishes really well and then take it from there.  It really worked for me.

Catch you soon.  

Pattypan xxxx