Spaghetti Sauce Soup

This is a soup I invented one night in desperation trying to find something soupy my kids would eat. (W in particular generally hates soup on principle). I have made it twice now and they loved it each time. It has a deceptively large amount of broth in it and every bit is gobbled up. Despite it’s low protein content it doesn’t take a lot of this soup to satisfy me. If you increase the fat it will be even more satiating. This also can hide some extra veggies very easily, esp if you puree them. I made it tonight and threw in some left over greens that hadn’t been eaten and some mushrooms. The strong flavor of the tomato sauce covers up a lot of flavors. This would also be a good soup to sneak some liver or other organ meats into.

Spaghetti Sauce Soup

• 1/4 cup or more expeller pressed coconut oil, tallow, lard or other cooking fat
• 1-2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup GAPS pate (recipe here)
• 1 med onion diced
• 1 tsp crushed garlic
• 12 oz Strained Tomatoes
• 1 jar Tomato Paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp celtic sea salt (assuming unsalted broth, otherwise 1 tsp may need more)
• 2 qt homemade broth
• other veggies like greens, mushrooms, etc (optional)
• Small spaghetti squash (2.5 lbs or so)
• Grated Romano Cheese (optional)

Makes approx 4-5 qts of soup

Preheat the oven to 350. Take the spaghetti squash and wash it. Poke a few holes into it and place it into a baking dish. Put the baking dish into the oven and bake for approx 1 hour. Check by pressing on the squash, it will feel softer when done. Sometimes spaghetti squash has an extremely hard peel and won’t get very soft. You probably will notice that it is very hard when you are poking holes into it. Cut in half and scoop out seeds and discard. Use a fork to remove the flesh and set aside. It will look like strands of spaghetti.

While that is baking put the fat into a big stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic,ground beef and pate. Cook till the meat is browned and the onion translucent. Break up the pate so that it disappears into the soup. This would probably also hide some organ meats quite nicely. Add the tomato puree, tomato paste, bay leaf, salt, broth and any other veggies . Bring to a boil and then lower to simmer. Cover and simmer for at least 20 min.

Right before you are ready to eat gently stir in the spaghetti squash. Serve in bowls with cheese sprinkled on top if desired.

 

This is a very flexible recipe so use what you have on hand and your family likes. I have used whole tomatoes instead of the puree, Water for some of the broth, and made it without the spaghetti squash. Also one thing I love about soup is how forgiving most recipes are as far as timing goes. Make this mid afternoon when you have the time and just keep it warm on the back of the stove till dinner time. It gets better with a long slow cooking but can be eaten right away too.

I would love to hear your variations on this soup and what your family thought of it!