My Father-in-Law used to make Mulligan Stew every once in a while. What that meant was that he took all the leftovers in the fridge from the week and made a soup out of them. I was told that when they had been warned that it was Mulligan Stew night, my sisters-in-law would make sure to go to the fridge before their Dad would get there and get rid of all leftovers that they didn’t think would taste very good together.
Well, tonight I had a bunch of leftovers so it was Mulligan Stew night. We had soup and biscuits. The “leftovers” soup ingredients that I threw into the pot to simmer are:
- homemade “smoky” salsa (with turmeric and cumin in it instead of cilantro and lime)
- tomatoes
- onions
- yellow squash
- cabbage, chopped
- parsnips, chopped (using up four remaining fresh parsnips before they went bad)
- 2 fresh potatoes, chopped
- chicken bouillon
- taco meat (that just happened to be roasted venison cut into bite-sized pieces and stewed in taco seasoning from another meal)
I threw it all in the pot to simmer on the stove. There was actually enough flavor between the salsa, the chicken bouillon and the seasoned venison to give the soup a delicious flavor. It had a light broth that were slightly reminiscent of Mexican food. My husband and older son had seconds on the soup.
We enjoyed apricot jam on our biscuits and dessert was home made chocolate orange pudding. I was experimenting so melted dark baking chocolate in milk, added orange flavoring and agave nectar (for sweetening), and thickened it with cornstarch, disolved in milk. It was lovely as well. My husband decided to wait to have his until mid-evening for a snack. He wants whipped cream, nuts, and coconut on top.
Try being creative by using up leftovers in the fridge and making your own Mulligan Stew. The fun thing about Mulligan Stew is that it is literally an experiment in being creative and making leftovers tasty. It will be different every single time.
