"Soup is Good Food"

Remember the Campbell’s Soup ad slogan, “soup is good food?” On a blustery cold winter day, can anyone disagree with that statement?

As we hunker in for January, it’s time to pull out recipes for comfort food. This means I’ll be serving meals of hearty soup and crusty bread. Making soup is often a one-pot meal, and can be very easy. Yet the smell of a well-prepared simmering soup is intoxicating, and the flavor can have so many layers that make each spoonful a sensory delight.

Two weekends ago I made my own Pasta Fagioli, an Italian bean and pasta soup that, according to Wikipedia, started as a peasant dish.

Last weekend I made another bean soup with lentils that I found in Giada De Laurentiis’s section of the Food Network site (www.FoodNetwork.com).

This coming weekend I’m going to make a corn chowder recipe shared with me by Meghann Kelley, my work colleague at True North (the ad agency where I work everyday…www.truenorthinc.com).

Here are all three recipes. Spoons up…

Neil’s Homemade Pasta Fagioli

What to buy
- 6 to 8 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces (to make this easy, put the bacon in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes, then cut it while it’s nearly hard)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 29-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
- 1 15-ounce can of cannelloni beans (white beans)
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- Fresh grated parmesan

How to prepare it
1. In a large sauce over medium high heat, cook the bacon bits until they’re well done but not burnt. Place them on a towel to soak up the fat. Pour out the bacon fat, but don’t clean the pot.
2. In the same pot, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. Then add in the chopped onion, celery and garlic. Sauté until they’re soft and translucent—maybe 5 minutes. You don’t want them to start browning.
3. Add the liquids—the crushed tomatoes and the chicken broth—along with the bay leaf. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Drain the cannelloni beans, and then add them to the soup. Let simmer another 10 minutes.
5. While the soup is simmering, cook the ditalini pasta in another pot, according to the directions on the box. Drain the cooked pasta and let stand until you’re ready to serve your soup.
6. Divide the cooked ditalini into six bowls. Ladle the soup on top. Garnish each bowl with the cooked bacon bits and serve with parmesan on the side.

This soup can be prepared a day or two beforehand, but don’t combine with the cooked pasta until you’re ready to serve the soup.


Giada De Laurentiis’s Lentil Soup
Here’s a link to her recipe: http://bit.ly/4Gj7R

Here’s the recipe:

What to buy
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 pound lentils (approximately 1 1/4 cups)
- 11 cups low-salt chicken broth
- 4 to 6 fresh thyme sprigs
- 2/3 cup dried elbow pasta
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan

How to prepare it
1. Heat the oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper and sauté until all the vegetables are tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes with their juices. Simmer until the juices evaporate a little and the tomatoes break down, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
3. Add the lentils and mix to coat.
4. Add the broth and stir.
5. Add the thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and simmer over low heat until the lentils are almost tender, about 30 minutes.
6. Stir in the pasta. Simmer until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
7. Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.


Meghann Kelley’s Hearty Corn Chowder

What to buy
- 3 medium sized potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups milk (2% works fine)
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 can whole kernel corn
- 1 can cream corn

How to prepare it
1. Heat olive oil in large saucepot over a low heat, and then add chopped onion. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add in 1-inch cubes of potatoes with 2 cups of water. Raise the heat to high to bring the water to a boil, then cook for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are fully cooked.
3. Add can of cream corn and can whole kernel corn. Lower the heat to medium and stir occasional for 3 minutes.
4. Add 2 cups of milk and 1 tablespoon of cream. Then cook for 5-7 minutes over medium heat.
5. Ladle into bowls and serve.