Lasagna Soup Starter Cubes

I’m often too quick to form an opinion on something, and that was the case with lasagna soup. Back in the winter, I wanted to give it a try, but I was mashing up two recipes, not being precise, and I decided to freeze it halfway through (which wasn’t my original plan). I was quick to proclaim that it wasn’t for me. But the issue was my ratios. I wasn’t sure how much to add after freezing, so I ended up with something that wasn’t very soup-y, and I didn’t understand the appeal.

My sister was the one who originally made me aware of the recipe; she had been using this recipe from the Dashleys’ kitchen. I found this other recipe and started working on a mashup of the two to put my own spin on it.

There is a page in my freezer meal guide where I talk about how to turn any recipe into a freezer meal.

I decided to use the freeze halfway through, which involves cooking the soup halfway and portioning it into freezer containers. This way, I can add broth to the frozen soup starter when it's time to make a meal.

Makes 8 cups of Soup Starter base, which will make 8-12 servings of soup.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 lb Italian sausage (casings removed)

• 1 large onion, diced

• 6 cloves minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 cups marinara sauce

• 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand (I prefer the texture of this)

1. In a heavy-bottomed pot or sauté pan, over medium heat, add 1 tbsp of olive oil along with the ground beef and ground sausage. Allow the meat to brown and develop some color on the bottom of the pan. Stir and break up the meat as it cooks until it is fully cooked.

2. Add the diced onion and sauté for a few minutes to soften before adding the garlic. Season with salt.

   

3. Add the tomato paste and stir, allowing it to carmelize and deepen in color. Then add in your marinara sauce and crushed tomatoes. (I prefer hand crushing the whole tomatoes rather than diced or crushed canned tomatoes because you get bigger pieces and a better texture, in my opinion)

4. Let this come up to a simmer and reduce for 5-10 minutes. This will not feel very soup-like; the consistency is more like a meat sauce at this point. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool before transferring it to freezer containers.

   

   This recipe makes 8 cups of soup starter to freeze. This should fit into two freezer trays, either the 2-cup size or the 1-cup size.

   

These ingredients are per 2 cups of frozen starter base. Scale up or down according to the number of people you’re serving. I freeze my soup starters in 2-cup portions, which will make 2-3 servings.

• 2 cups frozen lasagna soup starter base (as prepared above)

• 2 cups beef stock (I like using Better Than Bouillon so that I can make up the exact amount of stock needed at any given time)

• 1/4 cup heavy cream

• 6 lasagna noodles broken into pieces (or whatever flat noodle you like), approx 6 oz of dried pasta

• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese (or cottage cheese blended)

• 1 tsp olive oil

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 2-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

• shredded parm and/or mozzarella for serving (optional)

1. To finish the soup, take out the frozen soup base and add it to a saucepan along with the beef stock. Cover and bring that to a boil over medium heat. (You might need to break the cube up with a spoon.) Once the frozen soup starter is thawed and everything is boiling, add in your broken noodles and stir, allowing the noodles to cook for 8-9 minutes (or according to package instructions).

2. While the noodles are cooking, make the ricotta topping. Mix the olive oil, black pepper, and chopped fresh basil into the ricotta cheese.

3. Once the noodles are cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream.

4. Now you’re ready to serve! Portion the soup into bowls and give each bowl a large spoonful of the ricotta topping. (You can also add some shredded mozzarella or parmesan cheese if desired, but I found it didn’t need it.)

If you’d prefer to make the full soup, here are the full ingredient quantities:

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 lb italian sausage

• 1 large onion diced

• 6 cloves minced garlic

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 cups marinara sauce

• 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand

• 8 cups beef stock

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 24 lasagna noodles

• 2 cups ricotta or cottage cheese for serving

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tsp black pepper

• 8-10 fresh basil leaves, chopped

• shredded parm and mozzarella for serving