Lentil Soup with Spinach and Pasta

I made this lentil soup a couple of weeks ago. I'd been in the mood for lentil soup for a little while and had just paid a visit to my eye doctor who reminded me I should eat five servings of leafy green vegetables a week.

Generally when I make lentil soup, I use one of two recipes in Good & Garlicky, Thick & Hearty, Soul-Satisfying, More-Than-Minestrone Italian Soup Cookbook (a wonderful book, despite its title). So I was, no doubt, strongly influenced by this book in coming up with my own recipe. For one, this book introduced me to pancetta - something I now consider a staple and keep on hand in the freezer (it's easier to chop when frozen anyway).

While I didn't consult the book in throwing together this soup, the ingredients are similar (except for the spinach - see above). The proportions however, were purely for convenience. I hate having small amounts of tomato or stock leftover. It seems I never get around to using them and they inevitably wind up in the trash or down the drain (I know I should be whipping up some little masterpiece a la Paper Chef, but it just never happens).

The other thing that's a little different about this soup is that I used these Umbrian lentils that I bought on sale a while back. They're sort of like the French green lentils in that they maintain their shape and don't fall apart when cooked. They're smoother than the French lentils though, and uncooked come in a seemingly endless variety of shades of brown and green.

I loved the soup, but then I always love lentil soup. This is such a slap dash recipe, I'm afraid it proves nothing about my competence in the kitchen. It only proves you can't go wrong with lentils.

Lentil Soup with Spinach and Pasta

3-4 tbs olive oil
1 thick slice of pancetta (about 1 ounce), finely diced
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups lentils
2 quarts (8 cups) chicken stock (I used Whole Foods)
28 oz can of Italian plum tomatoes (I broke out the can of real San Marzano DOP tomatoes that I'd been saving for a rainy day) , roughly chopped & with juice
1 1/2 cups small pasta
1 bunch spinach, heavy stems removed and coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook a couple of minutes until the fat is rendered (you probably shouldn't brown it, but seems I always do). Add the onion and garlic and cook a few minutes more until the onions are translucent. Stir the lentils into the mixture and cook for a minute or so then add the stock. Cover the pot and raise the heat to high. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low (just high enough to maintain a simmer) and cook for 30 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Add the spinach and cook for a minute or two longer. Season to taste. Makes lots.

IMBB 11 - Beans and Greens Soup Revisited

Back in June, shortly after I started this blog, I made a soup from leftover beans that I really enjoyed. However, because of the time involved in making the beans, I had not gotten around to making the soup again. For IMBB 11, I decided that I would recreate this soup using canned beans so I could have it whenever the urge strikes!

When I originally came up with the bean recipe, I had in mind the traditional Tuscan dish in which white beans are cooked in a flask with olive oil and sage and also Boston baked beans (more familiar to me) in which white beans are baked with salt pork, molasses and spices in a bean pot. I wound up with a mixture of cannellini beans, olive oil, pancetta, onion, garlic, tomatoes, and sage baked in a bean pot. The beans filled the house with a heavenly aroma, tasted great, but for some reason were very mushy. It turned out, though, that they were easily transformed into a fantastic soup with the simple additions of chicken stock and greens.



My choice of greens for the soup also reflected the Tuscan slant I had chosen. Dinosaur kale is either the same as or similar to Tuscan kale or cavolo nero. (I’m a little confused on this point, as I’ve seen it characterized both ways.) It seems to be available just about year-round at my local Whole Foods.

To make the soup using canned beans, I sautéed the onions, garlic, pancetta and tomatoes in a generous amount of olive oil, then added the beans, chicken stock and sage and simmered it all for about half an hour. At that point I removed some of the beans and pureed the rest using an immersion blender. Finally, I returned the reserved beans to the pot along with the kale and simmered it for a few more minutes. I was thrilled with the result – it was delicious and took less than an hour! The soup as I made it was quite brothy but with body. You could easily make a thicker soup by pureeing more of the beans. The kale was still a little al dente (can you say that about kale?) and I loved it that way. When I tasted the soup before adding the kale, I was afraid I had over-salted it, however I found the kale balanced it out somehow. Tasting the finished soup, I thought it was perfectly seasoned. The leftover soup kept well and was easily reheated in the microwave.

I don’t have very many original recipes under my belt and fewer still that I would make over and over again, but this is definitely one that fits the latter category. I must say I’m mighty pleased with it!!

Beans and Greens Soup 2

about 6 servings

1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 ounces pancetta, diced (you could substitute regular bacon)
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice (I used the type with no added salt)
4 ½ cups cooked cannellini beans (3 15 ½ oz cans rinsed and drained)
5 large sage leaves, chopped
6 cups chicken stock (I used Whole Foods 365 Brand in the box)
½ teaspoon salt (adjust as necessary depending on the saltiness of your tomatoes and stock)
1 bunch dinosaur kale - trim out heavy stems and slice crosswise into ¼-inch slices
black pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes (don’t brown it). Add the onions and garlic and sauté until the onions are translucent – another couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes with the juice and cook for a few more minutes. Add the beans, stock, sage, and salt. Simmer about half an hour. Using a strainer or holey spoon, remove about 1 ½ cups of beans. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, then return the reserved beans to the pot and add the kale. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and top with freshly ground black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Delicata Squash Soup with Arugula Pesto

When I started thinking about what to have for dinner last night I was thinking light and simple. It being December and pretty chilly outside, soup naturally came to mind. I had a Delicata squash in the fridge that had been there for a couple of weeks, so I decided to make use of it. I wanted to include some greens in the soup and thought that the slight bitterness of arugula might contrast nicely with the sweetness of the squash. It was then that my train of thought veered off track – what was to have been a simple supper became considerably more complicated.

Somewhere in one or more of the many food magazines I have browsed over the years, I know I’ve seen pesto used as a garnish for soup, though I had never tried it myself. The idea of an arugula pesto on top of squash soup sounded really good to me. Then I got a really crazy idea – instead of using Parmesan cheese in the pesto, what if I used aged Gouda? And… instead of using pine nuts, why not use pecans? I think the only reasons I thought of using the aged Gouda were that I happened to have some on hand and I really like it. I didn’t have a clue as to whether it would “go with” arugula. In fact I started worrying about the combination enough that I decided to validate it by doing a search in Google. My search turned up several salads that included arugula, aged Gouda and pecans, so I decided it must be an acceptable combination.

I envy people that can confidently work out a recipe in their head. I suppose much of that ability must come from experience eating and preparing many different foods, but to me it’s like being able to read a sheet of music and hear the music in your head – another skill that eludes me. Anyway, I have to rely on luck as much as anything. Occasionally it works.



The pesto worked. However, my angst over the choice of nuts and cheese was unnecessary. The arugula overpowers them. I think pine nuts and Parmesan would work equally well and would taste just about the same.

I was much more laid back about the soup (probably because this was more familiar territory). I roasted the Delicata squash to accentuate its sweetness, added a sautéed onion and some roasted garlic, pureed them together in the food processor and then added chicken stock.

I topped the soup with salty crisped bits of pancetta. The mix of contrasting flavors and textures was delicious. I had a heap of dishes to do, but it was worth it! Tonight I had the leftover pesto in a pasta dish, but it’s late and that will have to be another post…

Delicata Squash Soup with Arugula Pesto

Pesto:
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pecans, toasted and cooled
About half a bunch of arugula (I weighed mine after it was cleaned and I had 90 grams or about 3 packed cups)
1/3 cup olive oil
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup grated aged Gouda (mine weighed 15 grams or about ½ ounce)

Soup:
2 Delicata squash (a little under 3 pounds total)
1 onion
1 head roasted garlic
3 to 4 cups chicken stock
¼ tsp salt
1 thick slice pancetta or bacon

Make the pesto: Place the garlic cloves in the food processor and pulse a few times. Add the pecans and process until finely chopped. Add the arugula, olive oil, and salt, and process until smooth. Place the pesto in a small bowl and then stir in the cheese. (Note: I went heavy on the arugula and light on the oil and cheese, but you could easily change the amounts to suit your preferences.)

Make the soup: Cut each squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Rub a little olive oil over the cut side of each half and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side down in a baking dish (I had to use 2 to fit all four pieces) and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, cut the pancetta into fine dice and cook in a non-stick frying pan over medium high heat until crisp. Remove the bits from the pan and place on paper towel to drain. Pour off the accumulated fat. Dice an onion and sauté it in the same pan. Place the onions and roasted garlic in the food processor. When the squash is done, scoop the flesh from each shell and place in food processor. Process until smooth. Pour the pureed vegetables into a 3-quart pot and add the chicken stock and salt. Cook just until heated through. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each bowl with a generous tablespoonful of pesto and a sprinkle of pancetta bits.

Happy Halloween!

It seemed like such a great idea…pumpkin and black beans. I think I was pulling something out of the freezer when it came to me. There was a little leftover pumpkin in there and I thought, “I bet that would be good in chili.” I mulled it over some more and then it came to me – Halloween Chili! And of course for Halloween Chili (with orange pumpkin), black beans were the logical choice.

I started out with my recipe for Cincinnati Chili and went from there. Cincinnati Chili, if you haven’t had it, is spicy but a little sweet. My recipe calls for pumpkin pie spice, honey and a little chocolate in addition to the more traditional chili seasonings of chili powder and cumin. I thought the seasonings in that recipe would work well with the pumpkin, although I chose to omit the chocolate. I started out swapping the pumpkin for the tomato sauce and then kept tasting and adding more things until I got it the way I liked it. I found in the beginning that the pumpkin made it heavy and dull. I added some hot sauce and increased the vinegar in the hopes of brightening it up a bit. Then I threw in more chili powder and more hot sauce. I finally gave in – it needed the acidity of tomatoes – so I threw in a can of tomatoes. At some point I also upped the pumpkin to a whole can since I didn’t want yet another small bit of it floating around in my freezer.

In the end, I was happy with it – even if it wasn’t quite the Halloween Chili I originally envisioned.


Halloween Chili

1 tbs olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb lean ground beef
3 tbs chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tbs cider vinegar
1 tbs honey
½ tsp salt
1 tsp hot sauce
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 14 ½ oz can diced or stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 29 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup beef broth
1½ cup water

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Sauté the onions and garlic until the onions are golden. Add the ground beef. Break it up with the spoon and stir occasionally until it is browned all over. Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer, lower heat and cook as long as you like. Happy Halloween!

Soup for Supper

I’ve been really busy this week, so I’ve been eating leftovers and prepared food from the grocery store. Last night I finally had a chance to cook but wasn’t up for something terribly complicated. I flipped through a cookbook that just happened to be out by my computer and came upon a recipe for black bean soup that sounded good. I decided on a supper of soup, salad and muffins.

The recipe for black bean soup is from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day. I’ve had the book for a while, but have not cooked much from it. I happened to have the book out because I had recently emailed an icing recipe from it to a friend. The icing goes with the “Six Minute Chocolate Cake” which, as you might deduce from the name, is very easy and also very good. I made the cake over a year ago and I don’t think I had used the book since then. As I was getting the link at Amazon just now, I noticed that the book has a five-star rating with 33 reviewers – guess I need to refer to this book a little more often!

Black bean soup is something I’ve always thought I should like – after all, I love black beans – but, I’ve never had one that I really enjoyed. I have tried making it myself a couple of times and had it once in a local coffee shop, but each time found it to be somewhere between boring and unpleasant. This recipe caught my eye because it had almost equal amounts of black beans and tomatoes. It also uses a technique that I really like: about half the soup is pureed and stirred back into the pot creating a thick, hearty soup that is still chunky. There is a fair amount of chopping to do, but the soup goes together quickly and easily.

I had just about all the ingredients on hand. There was one ingredient though that I had never cooked with: sun dried tomatoes (the dry ones, not the ones in oil). I wondered as I prepared the soup, what these would add to the soup in the way of flavor. Even after having eaten the soup, I’m still not certain. The soup was delicious and there was something about the flavor that was more than I expected. There was almost a slight sweetness, which may have come from the sun dried tomatoes, but could also have come from the canned tomatoes. I’m tempted to prepare it again without the sun dried tomatoes and taste the two side by side.

Before the soup I had a simple green salad and alongside the soup I had my very own Pumpkin Corn Meal Muffins. I stuck a DVD in the DVD player, got comfy on the sofa and enjoyed my home cooked meal.

The Italian Experiment – Part II: Confetti Soup

Last October I visited Italy with some of my family. We rented a beautiful house in Imprunetta, which is just south of Florence. The house had a huge kitchen and the owner was apparently an avid cook, as the adjoining room had shelves and shelves of cookbooks and cooking magazines. It was a bit frustrating that they were nearly all in Italian, but I still enjoyed browsing through the magazines. I copied one recipe in Italian to bring back as sort of a souvenir. With the assistance of my Italian dictionary and the web, I was able to translate it to English, and last night I prepared it for dinner!

The recipe is for “Consommé con Tempestina” which translates to “Consommé with Confetti”. It is a clear broth with colorful bits of vegetables and is garnished with tiny little puffs that are similar to cream puffs. The recipe refers to the puffs as confetti, but the vegetables also resemble confetti. As I was dicing them, I realized that they must have been selected not just for their flavors and textures, but for their colors as well, for they are the colors of the Italian flag: green (zucchini), white (celery root), and red (roasted peppers).

If you have the roasted peppers prepared ahead, the only time consuming part of this recipe is making the puffs. The dough is relatively simple, and doesn’t take long to put together. You then use a pastry bag with a small round tip to shape the puffs. I think the tip I used (Wilton #4) was too small – I had a terrible time trying to squeeze out the dough. A larger tip would probably have made quicker work of this step. I ended up discarding much of the dough because I didn’t have the strength press it all out.

This is a beautiful soup with a novel garnish and it tastes pretty good too!


Consommé con Tempestina

¾ liter consommé (about 3 cups, I used homemade chicken stock)
100 g flour (about ¾ cup)
2 eggs
1 zucchini
2 or 3 slices of celery root
½ of a large roasted red pepper
30g butter (about 2 tbs)

Put 2 deciliters (about ¾ cup) of water, the butter and a pinch of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the flour all at once and stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Allow it to cool slightly, then mix in the eggs one at a time.

Lightly butter a baking sheet and line it with parchment (you just need enough butter to hold the parchment in place). Place the dough in a pastry bag with a small round tip and press the dough onto the sheet forming many “confetti” (I made them about the size of chocolate chips). Place the sheet in an oven preheated to 190°C (375°F) for a few minutes (mine took about 9 minutes).

When the “confetti” are golden brown, remove them from the oven. Allow them to cool for a few moments and then use a spatula to remove them from the pan onto a plate.

Wash the zucchini and then cut off the peel together with a little of the pulp. Finely dice the zucchini peel, the pepper, and the celery root.

Bring the consommé to a boil, add the vegetables and let it boil for a couple of minutes. Ladle the consommé and vegetables into cups and sprinkle with the “confetti”. Serve with grated cheese, if desired. Serves 4.


the "tempestina" - ready to go in the oven 


the finished "tempestina" 


soup's on!