Scolapasta Soup

I don't know if I ever talked about scolapasta soup before. Scolapasta in Italian means strainer, pasta strainer. Growing up, my Mom would gather leftovers from the fridge and make a soup. Dad called it scolapasta soup. Whatever was there or had to be used up was thrown in. There was some semblance to the soup. Like crazy ingredients would not be thrown together but stuff that would work well together sure was.

So here is one of my scolapasta recipes. I really am giving a recipe to show you the kinds of things you can throw together to be economical, savvy and not let things go to waste.

I did add in radish tops. Many people do not realize, or do not care about these greens but they are really good and full of vitamins. This time of year when the radishes are super fresh at the market you can get some beautfiul looking greens. If you eat it alone, you really will not have enough because of the shrinkage factor. I use the greens for soups. Or sometimes I do cook them up and then throw them in a pan with olive oil and garlic. Enough for myself for lunch or something. Oh, and save the broth, there is no bitterness and you can add it to any soup. You can freeze it and use it later when you need vegetable broth. I throw it in the kids chicken soup so they get some vitamins from the radish tops. You can read a bit more about radish greens here.

A Scolapasta Soup

1 cup cooked radish tops
2 cooked hamburgers, left over from the fourth of July, chopped
1 onion, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
2 cups spaghetti, chopped into small pieces
5 carrot sticks that the kids didn't finish, chopped
2 cups of au jois from when I bought some beef
2 cups of radish leaf broth
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of a pasta seasoning mix I have
1/4 of a sausage that my daughter didn't finish
s and p

Now is this the funniest recipe you ever saw or what. Call me crazy or call me frugal. Or both.

Saute onion and carrot in the butter and oil, cook until softened. Add garlic, cook one minute more. Add broths, bay leaf, seasoning, salt and pepper, meats. Cook for about twenty minutes. Add in pasta and cook just until heated.

I added some chili paste to mine.