A seemingly endless winter is always a good occasion to make soup. And if you have a pantry and freezer full of goodies from this past summer’s garden, all the better.

I came across a soup recipe recently that did not require me to go to the supermarket. I had all the ingredients on hand and only a few tweaks to the recipe were necessary.

Instead of raw squash, I used some that had already been baked, scooped out of shell, put in a vacuum-sealed bag and frozen. I also substituted canned carrots and canned tomatoes.

The result was fantastic. A soup that tastes as good as this one makes winter a little more bearable.

Harvest Vegetable Soup
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large diced onion
½ teaspoon salt
6 cloves finely chopped garlic
3 carrots, diced, or pint of canned carrots
1 cup celery, diced
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
½ cup white wine
6 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce, or to taste
1 4-inch sprig rosemary
1 small winter squash (about 4½ cups)
4 cups finely chopped kale leaves (no stems)
1 large tomato or a pint canned tomatoes
Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt, and cook, stirring often until the onion is softened and starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add carrots (if raw), celery and Herbes de Provence. Cover and cook, removing lid to stir often until the vegetables are starting to brown and sizzle, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add wine, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring until the wine is almost completely evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes.
Add broth, Tabasco sauce and rosemary and bring to a boil. Add squash, and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low or to maintain a simmer, and cook about 12 minutes.
Add kale, carrots (if canned) and tomatoes and stir until the kale is wilted into the soup. Cook until the kale is tender, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove rosemary before serving.