Busy Weekend Spicy Tomato Soup

Every weekend when it’s cold, I make soup. I’m not exactly sure why but I think it’s just because I love the smell of garlic and onion sautéing in the house! Plus, a soup’s flavor typically improves with time, meaning I can re-heat it later in the weekend to eat for a quick lunch or even dinner without that dreaded ‘left over’s’ taste.

This weekend got rather busy in my house because I signed up for a cake decorating class and I have about 5 cakes I have to make this month between TWD and my class (not to mention all the other goodies on my ‘to try’ list. And every time I turned around it seemed I need to start another meal which led to its clean up. So by Sunday afternoon, I decided its time for a short cut. Yes, even though I am no fan of pre-prepped goods, even I take ‘short cuts’.

I got this recipe of course from my idol in cooking, Giada, from the Food Network. Let me tell you, this spicy tomato soup is amazing, hearty, and deliciously spicy. I changed it up a bit and cut the recipe in half since it was just my husband and me.


Spicy Tomato Soup
Recipe derived from Giada Di Laurentiis

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 Parsnip, peeled and chopped
½ cup Spanish onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (26-ounce) jar marinara sauce (San Marzano brand, if you can’t find it just use a GOOD quality marinara)
2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth, homemade preferred
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup ditalini pasta (or any small pasta)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Garnish: Basil, plain yogurt, homemade croutons


Directions:

Heat a large heavy bottomed (non reactive) pot, add the olive oil. Add onion, carrots and parsnips. Sauté until soft, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Add the marinara, chicken broth, cannellini beans, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes until pasta is soft. Serve with plain yogurt, basil and homemade croutons on top.

To make homemade croutons: Slice up day old bread into cubes, drizzle with olive oil, and put in a 350 degree oven until toasty. About 5-10 minutes.

Pasta di Abruzzo and Sweet Memories

Italian food holds a fuzzy spot in my heart. Even as I am engulfed upon this low-carb era, I still crave pasta. I admit it, I love it. In fact, its one of the first things I learned how to make. For awhile, it’s ALL I would make. My dad would always ask, “Hey, what are you making…Al-FREEEDO?” because that’s all I did make for about a year.

Even in college, and on a very limited budget, trying to come up with a clever dinner to make for my roommate “L” and me. I just started cleaning out the refrigerator finding things to throw in the pot. I came up with a great spaghetti bake. There is something about pasta with cheese oozing off the side that just screams comfort.

I still love making pasta today. Despite being easy, it’s good and depending on how the dish is prepared it can be rather impressive. It can be so impressive that I totally attribute my homemade lasagna to landing my husband. What can I say; my Southern Belle Grandma was right when she told me, “If you want to land a man, it’s through his stomach”.

Besides Italian food being easy to make and down right yummy, Italy just holds some nostalgia to me that I will never be able to fully put into words. Allow me to over share. First off, when only dating my now husband for about 3 weeks, he whisked me off to the Virgin Islands for a friends wedding, and 2 weeks after that, we embarked to Italy for another one of his friends weddings. For a person like me, who never took risks, and always over thought every single action I made, this was totally out of the ordinary. I didn’t globetrot, much less with a man I barely knew. But, in spite of all that, I accepted his invitation graciously, and tagged along.

Italy was no less than amazing and for any of you who have been there I am sure could attest to that. So here we were, in a mid-evil town in Pescara, Italy, where barely anyone spoke English. His friend and his wife were the first non-natives to be married in the church, and it was something about the atmosphere, I felt nothing but love for this man I was getting to know, right there, in the church, in the mid-evil town.

Whew…is it hot in here?

Anyway, my point is what I remember most, besides falling in love, was this pasta we had at this mid-evil castle we stayed at. It was so delicious, yet, so simple. I don’t necessarily think you need a lot of ingredients to make something good. You just need good ingredients to make something good. So, here it is, my simple version of this pasta…that means so much to me. I hope it will mean something to you…

This is us in Abruzzo, literally eating this pasta, June 2004

Tomato Basil Penne
½ Pound of Penne Pasta
Pot of scant water (scant= season the water with salt!)
5-6 Fresh Roma Tomatoes (you can use any tomato you like really, as long as it’s fresh and good)
¼ Cup White Wine
5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves, roughly chopped or torn
2 T. Toasted Pine Nuts
1-2 Garlic Cloves
Freshly shaved Grana Padana or Parmigianino Reggiano (good quality)
½ Cup Good Quality Olive Oil, preferably Sicilian or Tuscan of sorts because it’s more pungent (you can add more if needed)
Salt/freshly ground black pepper

Boil water, season well with salt. Cook pasta until el Dente.
Meanwhile, clean and chop tomatoes into smaller chunks.
Toast Pine Nuts. Set aside.
Drain pasta, reserve about a ladle full or pasta water in a separate bowl.
In a separate pan (or you can use the pan you toasted the pine nuts in), sauté garlic with a few turns in the pan of olive oil. (Be careful not to burn it. If you burn it, discard and start over.) Add tomatoes and ¼ cup white wine. Let wine cook off a bit.
In pasta pot, add tomato garlic mixture, olive oil, and a handful of the cheese, and basil. Add a bit of the reserved pasta water at a time. Stir. Serve.
Adjust cheeses, oil, seasonings to taste.

View of the church from our window

The view of the castle we stayed at from the road

Eating in Sorrento