Soup Is Where the Heart Is

What could be better than a steaming hot bowl of homemade soup, a big blanket, and a comfy sofa on a cold fall night?

During winter I usually look forward to cracking open my box of soup recipes, a collection I have been building over the past few years. I tend to make big batches of soup, so I can freeze quarts to enjoy on upcoming cold winter nights. I like trying new ingredients while also learning how to pair a certain soup with a particular dish, like a specific type of wine that goes perfectly with a certain dish.

Not to be a soup snob, but I have not opened or eaten a can of pre-packaged soup in a long time. I find it important to use fresh ingredients and in-season vegetables. Homemade soup has tons of nutritious health benefits unlike canned soup, not to mention the fresh yummy flavors.

My excitement at passing the time by making soup during these long winter nights has not always been a part of my life. Since I am a native Floridian, soup was not something I tended to crave, due to the lack of seasonal changes in weather. However, I have always loved soup, and it has always crept into my diet in some way or another. For instance, my mom’s chili, beef stew, and Hungarian goulash recipes were frequent staple meals made during the few “cold nights” of winter in Florida. As soon as the temperature dropped into the 60’s, my family pretended we lived in the North while sitting on our cozy sofa eating beef stew wearing over-sized sweaters and furry bedroom slippers.

After living as a transplant in Philadelphia for five years, I have come to experience and understand the changes in seasons and the food cravings that go along with them. I now have to wear the over-sized sweaters and furry bedroom slippers – not just for fun but for survival. Part of that survival, to me, is a big bowl of homemade soup.

During one of these cold snowy nights, I cannot think of a better way to embrace it than with one of my favorite soup recipes. Pasta e Fagioli is perfect on a chilly day when your body craves a hearty meal. Enjoy this recipe (courtesy of Foodgawker.com) while sitting on your comfy sofa under a big blanket on a cold day.

Pasta e Fagioli
serves 6 to 8

1/2 t olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 c tomatoes (peeled, seeded and diced fresh or canned tomatoes -- about 2 lbs), juice reserved
2 15-oz cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained, divided
1 qt chicken broth
1 t minced fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 c ditalini pasta
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1 T fresh basil, torn

Set a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil, stir in onions and carrots, and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and 1/2 c cannellini beans and simmer 5 minutes or until tomatoes release their juices and beans become soft. Decrease heat to low and use a potato masher to mash the beans and tomatoes until well-blended but not smooth. Add remaining beans, chicken broth, rosemary, and bay leaf and increase heat to high until the liquid just reaches a boil. Add reserved tomato juice from fresh tomatoes (strain out seeds first). Decrease heat to low and keep soup warm.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook ditalini according to package instructions. Drain and mix pasta into the soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in torn basil just before serving.

Notes:
I like to add the pasta just before serving to prevent it from soaking up the soup liquid and losing its chewy texture.

If using fresh tomatoes, remove skins by blanching and shocking. Remove core from the tomato and score an “x” in the bottom. Bring a pot of water to boil and prepare an ice bath. Cook tomatoes in the boiling water for 1 minute then submerge in the ice bath. If the skin doesn’t immediately start to peel away cook it again in the water for 1 minute and submerge in the ice bath. Drain well and use a paring knife or your fingers to remove and discard the skin. Cut the tomato into quarters and remove the seeds. Dice small.