Earth Day and "Recycled" Brat Soup

Happy Earth Day! There are lots of ways to be Earthy-savvy in the kitchen. The most obvious thing that comes to mind is recycling. Depending on where you live, you can recycle a lot of food packaging (here, we're only allowed to recycle glass, aluminum cans and two kinds of plastic. It's heartbreaking). Another idea is to reduce the amount of packaging on the food you buy. Is it necessary to put every bunch of cilantro or lettuce into a plastic bag at the grocery store? Absolutely not. Have you ever purchased grains, beans or flour in bulk foods section? The best part about bulk buying (besides the price) is that you can reuse the same bag over and over again and by taking the empty bag with you to the grocery store, you'll remember what you need. Speaking of bags, you can switch from paper or plastic to canvas or another type of reusable shopping bag (Hawaii was doing this for years before it caught on in the mainland).

What about ways to reduce energy consumption in the kitchen? Make sure to use the appropriate sized burners for each of your pots and pans to reduce the energy lost to the atmosphere. Forgo the oven on hot days. Instead, eat something fresh. The oven uses energy plus your air conditioner will have to work harder to maintain the air temperature. Do the opposite in the winter. Bake a lot of pizza on a hot pizza stone at 500 degrees. Once you're done, leave the oven door open. The heat from the oven and the stone won't take long to warm up the kitchen so your heater won't have to work as hard.

You can also save energy with your fridge or freezer. Keep the door open for the shortest amount of time needed. Cool your food on the counter before putting it in the fridge otherwise you'll warm up the internal temperature of the fridge (this is also important for food safety). Be sure to leave space between items in both the fridge and freezer. As tempting as it is, don't jam it full. Airflow is important for food safety and quality (no one likes find frozen lettuce or icy milk) and it helps make the appliance more efficient. You'll not only reduce energy waste, but  also the organic waste you'd make by throwing away that soggy lettuce.

Some people don't care about organic waste because it decomposes. Sure, it decomposes, but it still takes up space in the landfill and it takes time to decompose. Instead, consider composting. It's amazing to see how much organic waste you produce and watch it decompose. Some things shouldn't be composted--like meat. Who hasn't had to throw away the chicken breasts that got pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten? Eliminating wasted food is important. The amount of energy and resources that go into producing food is incredible. Have you heard of the Haber-Bosch process? It's the reaction that converts atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. It requires a lot of energy to break the triple bond between the Nitrogen atoms.  This process uses an entire percentage of the world's annual energy supply to produce nitrogen fertilizer for farming. (There's one reason to consider organic foods.)

I live with two guys. You wouldn't believe the amount of food I throw away because I found it rotting in the crisper. It breaks my heart every time. So, today, I'll share a recipe for reusing leftovers. For Earth Day, we'll call it "Recycled Brat Soup." 

I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe before. I first made this soup on a Sunday when C was working in the hospital. I don't know if it was a post-call day or post-nights or why he was so tired (besides residency in general), but when he came home from work, he was about to pass out without having eaten breakfast or lunch (this is typical). I sat him up in bed and forced him to eat soup. He loved it, had a second bowl, thanked me and passed out for the rest of the day.

It quickly became my go-to soup recipe because we usually have all of the ingredients in the fridge, pantry, and freezer. To clarify--we don't usually have leftover brats in the fridge. Brats are a luxury in my house. For some reason, whenever we grill and I ask for brats, C ends up making some sort of chicken sausage or Italian sausage. He's from Iowa. He doesn't understand that serving sausage when I asked for brats is like me serving him peas when he asked for corn. Luckily, we do tend to have a few stray sausages in the freezer at any given time.

I feel like its sacrilegious to eat brats in any way other than [boiled in beer,] grilled and served on a brat bun. (Yes, there are special buns to for brats that taste so much better than hotdog buns). However, this soup is really good. Plus, I live in Texas now. It's my right to do whatever the heck I want to do (or so I've been lead to believe).

Spinach and "Recycled" Brats Soup
Adapted from Elements by Jason Roberts
Serves 4

Materials
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 leftover [cooked] brats (or your favorite sausage), 1/4-1/2" slices
1 med. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orzo (or other small pasta)
1/2 bunch spinach, stems removed and chopped
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

Methods
1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until the sausage has browned and the onions are translucent.
2. Add the chicken broth and crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
3. Add the orzo to the boiling soup. Cook 5 minutes or so, until the pasta is al dente.
4. Stir in the spinach and peas. Cook two minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with fresh bread. Soup is alright leftover, but be aware that the pasta will absorb liquid and it will become less of a soup and more of a goulash.