You know how, after a bit of a blogging break, it's customary to explain how busy you've been?
Well, actually, I've been spending my evenings watching bad glorious television and eating popcorn* with butter and brewers yeast.
So, yeah, I've been really busy. Eating.**
Tonight I made one of my favorite recipes, and I thought it would be fun to share it here. It's kidney bean and orzo soup with carrots, a variation on pasta e faglioli. This recipe comes from the book Italian Classics. Have I mentioned that we are devoted followers of the Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen folks in our house? Okay, so their recipes are often a bit involved (as my friend Melissa once joked, "It calls for the sanctified tears of the Mother Mary? Well ... okay ... if America's Test Kitchen says so, sanctified tears it is."), but the results are really reliable and the cooking-nerd-delight factor cannot be beat.
Anyway, this recipe is not that involved. It's actually really easy. I can make it on a weeknight after I get home from work. I love this stuff, and I don't even like kidney beans (don't ask me how it works, but it magically transforms kidney beans into yummy). And while it's pretty healthy, it's not health-foody: Even my carnivore husband and ridiculously picky toddler ask for seconds of this soup/stew.
It can be easily made vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth for chicken broth and skipping the pancetta.
But, um, big shocker: it's really good with chicken broth and pancetta too (and has a higher rate of success with the carnivore husband).
This recipe makes enough for my entire household to have seconds with enough leftover for me to bring to work for two or three days. Those thrifty Italians!
Peasant food. |
Kidney Bean and Orzo Soup with Carrots
(from Italian Classics, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated)
(from Italian Classics, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated)
3 tbs olive oil
3 oz pancetta, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
1 parmesan cheese rind
2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
8 oz orzo
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
- Heat oil in dutch oven or other big pot, add pancetta and saute until browned, about 5 minutes. Add onion and carrots and cook until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
-
Add tomatoes and scrape any browned bits from the pan. Add the cheese
rind and beans. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 10
minutes. Add chicken stock, 4 cups of water, and salt. Raise the heat to
high and bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook until tender, 13-15
minutes.
- Off the heat, remove and discard cheese rind. Stir in the parsley and season with pepper and additional salt if needed.
- Ladle into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan cheese.
Now please excuse me, I need to go make some popcorn.
* We use a cool, old-school, stove-top contraption to make our popcorn. It's awesome.
** Well, in addition to completely ripping out our backyard, starting a new garden from scratch, chasing an almost three-year-old, holding down a day job, and growing a new life, that is. Back off.