This soup is an amalgamation of what I had on hand when we got sick last week, but it came out delicious nevertheless. I didn’t have any broth or stock on hand, so you’ll find a lot of concocting the liquid to be as flavorful and complex as possible for starting with nothing. In a way it doesn’t feel very fancy or worth sharing, but this was a meal where we made something out of nothing. It helped us get over the flu and warmed our spirits when the temperature dropped and we were stuck inside. It tastes like the first week of January when it’s time to go back to reality, but you still forgot to go to the store.

Flu Season Soup

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion chopped
3 medium carrots peeled and chopped
4 celery stocks chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon fennel seed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 cans of firm white beans *See note
1 tablespoon of white miso paste
1 tablespoon vegetable or roasted garlic Better than Bouillion whisked into 6 cups water
1 parm rind
2 small russet potatoes peeled and chopped into ½” cubes
6 oz wide egg noodles
½ lb chopped kale
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 lemon for juicing
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional – for serving: more lemon, parsley, grated parm, crushed red pepper, and a slice of buttery, toasted baguette

Method

In a large pot, heat the 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Add the fennel seed and thyme and let everything sizzle for 30sec longer. Add the flour and
Add the 2 cans of beans and their liquid, miso paste, bouillon paste, water, parm rind, and potatoes. Give everything a good stir. Turn the heat up to medium-high and let the whole pot come to a low boil.
Add the noodles and continue to boil according to package instructions (mine took 9 min). Poke one of the potato cubes with a sharp knife. The knife should slide into it without resistance to tell you they’re cooked. If the potato still has some toughness/crunch, let the soup go on a low simmer for 4-5min longer. Lower the heat and add the kale, stirring and pushing the greens down to wilt as needed.
Add the soy sauce and the juice of the lemon. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed – probably one big pinch of each. Remove the parm rind and thyme sprigs and serve warm.

Notes

*I used butter beans & garbanzo beans. Cannellini or navy beans would work too

This keeps for several days in the fridge, or freezes well. We added a lot of garnishes when we ate this to freshen it up each day, but it’s fine on its own as well. I do, however, strongly encourage a thick slice of baguette or good bread, toasted and slathered in salted butter on the side.