Any leftovers in cans should be transfered to plastic containers - atwist of foil or plastic in the case of anchovies, tomato paste, or pimientos - and frozen. Vegetable cooking water (freeze) Leftover vegetables (can be frozen, but better if not) Noodles, rice, pasta, kasha, beans (freeze) Cream sauce, spaghetti sauce, gravy (freeze)

Before freezing leftover vegetable water, stock, broth, or tomato product, cook some finely chopped onion, celery, and carrot in 1 - 2 Tbsp of butter until they soften, then add the liquid and salt and pepper. Freeze the mixture and you will have soup starter. Use 1/3 to 1/2 cup of each vegetable for 6 cups of soup.

Variations on the soup starter:

Before adding the vegetables, cook 2 slices of diced bacon in the butter.

Add 1 Tbsp paprika, chili powder, or curry powder to the vegetables as they cook, before adding liquid: 1 Tbsp of flour can be added at this time, too, to give the starter a little body.

Sherry or dry red or white wine, about 1/3 cup, can be added before the other liquid and allowed to cook down to half. This gives a richness to the soup that will ensue.

Add 2 Tbsp of finely chopped parsley to the vegetables.

Add 1/3 cup of finely chopped green pepper.

Once you have the starter, the rest of the liquid can be added. It can be more of the same, or perhaps milk. Heavy cream, yogurt, or sour cream are added at the end, to heat but not boil, to avoid curdling.

The solids you put in can be infinitely varied:

Small pieces of stewing meat or soaked dried beans need about an hour to cook.

Fresh vegetables take from about 20 minutes for root vegetables to about

Cooked vegetables should be put in just to warm, not to cook any further. If they are already overcooked, perhaps it would be better to add a little liquid and puree them.

Soup can be thickened by pureeing some or all of it, or for each cup of soup add 1 tsp of rice or 3 Tbsp of grated raw potato or 1 Tbsp of flour mixed with 2 Tbsp milk, water, or broth.

Finely chopped cabbage can cook for hours in a soup, spinach goes in at the very end, for about a minute, remaining bright green.

Cooked ham, in chunks or julienne, sliced frankfurters, and sliced garlic sausage have more flavor and give up some of their fat if they are lightly sauteed before being added to the soup.

Harper & Row, New York. 1983. Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 7/92