If you like thinking outside the box when you make soup, this will tick all the items for soup-making for you. Chicken, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives and couscous with an apricot hint. It’s delicious.

No credit is due me on this recipe – it’s all Phillis Carey. She was inspired by an online recipe at food.com for this, but it certainly was way outside my box, but oh-s0 good and worth it. Do not, under any circumstances, be dissuaded once you look at the ingredient list. Half of the items are spices. This soup is healthy. Hearty. Chickeny. Comforting. It could be the Moroccan version of chicken noodle soup. I might like this better than that, actually. If you make a batch for freezing, go ahead and cook the couscous, but put it in a separate plastic bag and seal it inside the larger bag of soup. You can still freeze it all in one gallon bag, but with the smaller well-sealed bag inside.

The soup (the broth part) contains onions, ginger, garlic, all the spices, some white wine, chicken broth, the garbanzo beans and a can of diced tomatoes. It needs but 10-15 minutes of simmering to be ready. Meanwhile, get all the add-ins ready (canned artichoke hearts – no, not the marinated kind – the Kalamata olives, shredded chicken) and on the side some cilantro and almonds.

Then, make the couscous in a separate pan – it uses chicken broth, a little bit of honey (yes), oil, lemon juice, zest, salt and some diced up dried apricots. Phillis did say you could use dried cranberries or currants if you don’t have or want to use apricots. Couscous takes no time at all – just add it to the hot broth mixture, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff it up just a little.

Back to the soup – add in the additions to the soup (so they heat through), get a soup bowl ready, scoop in some couscous, then, if you can and are willing to be patient, carefully pour the chicken and chickpea soup around the outside of the mound of couscous. It looks really pretty that way. Otherwise, just add the soup and couscous to a bowl and garnish with cilantro and almonds. And one Kalamata olive on top.

If you’re a lover of spices and flavor, this one is IT. If you’re intimidated by all the spices, maybe mix those up the day before and keep them fresh in a little sealed jar. Don’t make more than you need – remember, mixed spices lose their flavor after about a month.

What’s GOOD: the myriad of flavors in this soup. I love soup in all shapes and sizes. And this one – the flavors. Loved them all – the artichoke hearts, the beans, the apricot couscous. Wow. All delish.
What’s NOT: can’t think of any down side to this flavorful soup. Worth doing, even if you do have to dig out all of your spice bottles to do it!

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Ever notice how flavorful butternut squash can be? And yet it’s such a nuisance to cut (sometimes I can’t even do it myself) and peel. But this soup is worth the hassle.

If you’ve visited Costco lately, then you likely have seen their package (2 pounds) of cubed, peeled butternut squash. Yippee for me! The only thing is – once you buy it, you need to cook it within a few days. Once cut, the squash doesn’t keep forever. So, given that, buy yourself one and make this tasty soup. Trader Joe’s also carries (sometimes) a similar package of butternut squash. And occasionally I see it frozen at some regular grocery stores. Or, if you’ve got some good muscles, do buy the fresher whole squash and do it yourself! This came from a cooking class I went to recently (Tarla Fallgatter) but I found the recipe online from Food and Wine, and it’s credited to Dean Fearing.

I happened to have some fennel on hand, so with the butternut squash all ready to go, this soup was very easy to make. The squash is roasted in the oven for 20-30 minutes (until tender). Meanwhile, gently sauté onion, fennel and fresh ginger in butter. Add the squash and chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you’d prefer a vegetarian soup) and cook until everything is tender. The soup is pureed (by blender or immersion blender), then gently reheated with the addition of a small amount of heavy cream. Toast some pecans, chop them, whip up just a little bit of heavy cream, add a sprinkle of cayenne pepper (yes, really) and dollop those on top. Makes for a lovely taste and a lovely presentation too.

At right is a photo I took at the class – see the difference in color? When I made it myself, I had a couple of bulbs of fennel. I like fennel. So I decided to add one whole medium-sized fennel to this soup. It calls for half of one. And when I roasted the butternut squash, I likely didn’t roast it long enough – I cooked it through, but it adds a lot of flavor if you allow the butternut squash to caramelize. So, you’ll notice from the photo at the top, mine is a much lighter color – both from the lack of caramelization and from the addition of more fennel. But as for flavor – it was wonderful both times. The ginger – I probably added a bit more than called for and it was only mildly warm. One day I ate the soup cold (because I was just lazy) – it was wonderful! That’s the photo at top – I didn’t whip the cream, I just drizzled about a teaspoon of cream on top, then added the toasted pecans.

What’s good: the additions of the fennel and ginger give it a lovely nuanced flavor. And the topping just kind of puts in a higher realm. It would make a very nice company first course, or add a sandwich or salad and it would make a nice dinner too. The fresh ginger gives this soup just a little bit of heat – I liked that part. I really liked the texture of the soup – using an immersion blender I didn’t completely puree the soup (which was fine by me) so with the addition of the pecans, there was bit of crunch and the fennel didn’t completely disintegrate either. Lovely, really.
What’s not: nothing at all. It’s good all around.

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I know – this doesn’t look like much. A milky blah-looking soup. It isn’t blah. Yes, creamy – but creamy from milk, not so much cream (some half and half used). Perhaps you can vaguely see little specks of orange (carrots) and green (celery). There’s also a lot of cauliflower in it, which gives the soup a very mellow flavor and certainly a white color!

Veggie soups are a favorite of mine, and I don’t have very many that aren’t enhanced significantly with carbs – either beans, rice or potatoes. And since we do try to limit carbs around our house – when I saw this one that’s strictly veggies (except for the carrots, but there aren’t many in there), I knew I’d try it. The recipe came from The Pioneer Woman. You know, of course, that even vegetables have carbs – even ordinary ones like onions and celery. Not all that many, but some. And flour (used to thicken the soup) is pure carb, so there ARE carbs in this soup, but it’s not carb-centric. An entrée serving contains 28 grams of carbs.

Right off the bat I’m telling you this isn’t a wow kind of soup. It’s hot, it’s comforting, it’s mostly smooth (because I whizzed most of it in a blender, contrary to Ree’s recipe) and it’s filling, especially with a little open-faced toasted cheese sandwich I made on some super-thin bread. It’s tasty. But it’s not something you’re going to go raving to the world about. But yes, I’d make it again – probably with more cauliflower in it. I might add fennel to the veggie mix. Or perhaps some leeks. AND, I’d sprinkle in a bunch of grated cheese at the end and merely stir it in (no more cooking once you do that). But otherwise, it’s a fine soup. Relatively easy to make (it does require 2 pans, one for the soup and one for the creamy gravy base you add to it) too. A little bit of sour cream is added in at the end (I used Mascarpone because that’s all I had) which adds just a bit of richness. I froze half of it and will serve that later, or maybe I’ll give it to a dear friend who has just had shoulder surgery and she’ll be hard pressed to cook much in coming weeks.

What’s good: just the wholesomeness of it – simple ingredients, a good soup for a cold winter’s day. Nothing fancy, nothing difficult. Not exceptional, but it’s good.
What’s not: nothing really.

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When I ponder something new to fix for dinner, I can’t say that I ever think about choosing Malaysian food! I don’t know that I’ve ever had Malaysian food, for that matter, until now!

I’d defrosted some pork – one of the few remaining packages from the 4-H Berkshire pig we bought over a year ago. I still have some bacon and ham and that’s about it. Even though the package said it was country ribs, it was a very small package, so I decided to spread out the pork wealth by making something like stew. As is my usual method, I went to Eat Your Books, where I have listed nearly all of my cookbooks. I put in “pork stew” and within seconds I had a list of the dozens and dozens of recipes contained in my own cookbooks. Well no, it doesn’t really have the recipes, it just has the title and the list of ingredients (by name, not quantity), which makes it quite simple to deduce if I have the ingredients on hand. In this particular recipe, yes, I had the pork, coconut milk, onions, white wine, ginger, tomatoes, fresh mint and cilantro. I didn’t have fresh basil, but I overlooked that one.

I just love that website – it makes finding a recipe so simple. Once I chose this recipe, I glanced at what cookbook – how funny – it’s from my mostly new-favorite book – The Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century. And better yet, once I pulled out the book itself, I found that I had already flagged the recipe – but just hadn’t gotten around to making it! All serendipity – it was meant to be!

The cookbook version suggests Boston butt or pork shoulder. I assumed the cooking time wouldn’t be much different for the country ribs. It also has you make it all on the stovetop, whereas I had decided to use the pressure cooker, which worked like a charm. The preparation is the same – it’s just the difference of the cooking time (10 minutes by pressure cooker, and about 60-90 minutes on the stovetop).

The pork stew chunks are dredged in a spicy mixture of curry powder, cumin and paprika. I had a hot curry powder, so I didn’t add cayenne as listed in the recipe. (Although, I couldn’t really discern any heat in the finished dish, so it was more mild than anticipated.) They were browned well in oil, removed, then I sautéed the onions (it called for red, I only had a yellow one). Then you add in all the other ingredients, including garlic and simmer. That’s when I put on the lid and pressure cooked it for 9 minutes.  I had a bit of coconut milk left over (I made half of the recipe you see below) so I just added it in at the last, along with the fresh green beans. I simmered them just until they were barely cooked through. Because we limit white carbs, I only used about 2-3 T. of cooked rice in each bowl, ladled the soup around the outer rim (so we could see the rice), then sprinkled on the garnishes. The lime juice adds a really important taste element – be sure to add that part. I liked the flavor combination from the spices (paprika, cumin and curry). The garnish is a combo of fresh mint, fresh cilantro, basil (if you have it, I didn’t), peanuts (I didn’t have peanuts, but I did have sliced almonds so I chopped those up) and lime juice. That garnish adds a wonderful touch to the taste.

What’s good: just the overall flavor of the gravy or soup part – it’s loaded with taste. The pork was nicely cooked, although not overly so. It might have been able to take another minute or two in the pressure cooker. I’m sure this could be made the day ahead, even. Just make the garnishes at the last minute. And the left overs – they were wonderful.
What’s not: nothing, really.

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When I glanced at this recipe, before Phillis Carey’s cooking class started, I can’t say that I was very intrigued. Dill pickles on top of a soup? And old-fashioned mustard? Oh, was I mistaken, big time! This soup is SO good. So interesting! So different! And believe it or not, it’s also EASY.

You might have to look hard at the photo – right in the center is a little squirt of regular (hot dog) mustard. And you can see the little chunks of dill pickle, along with the shredded Cheddar. I added the little bits of chopped tomato (not in the original recipe, but I thought they sounded like a fun addition).

When I tell you this soup is easy, just read how easy: sauté the ground turkey (dark and light meat for best flavor), add veggies (onion, celery and carrot) and cook. Add flour, broth, milk and some potatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are done. Off heat add the cheese, ladle into bowls and sprinkle on the condiments for your delish “soup burger.” Tops, this takes about 30 minutes to make.

What else can I possibly say about it? It’s easy to make, it’s very tasty, it’s relatively healthy. If you want to make it more healthy, use olive oil in place of butter, and use 2% milk rather than whole. Don’t skimp on the Cheddar cheese – use the grate-it-yourself type (you know, the packages of shredded cheese have some kind of covering on the shreds so the cheese doesn’t stick together in the package). Use sharp (not extra sharp as it’s too dry, Phillis said, and won’t melt well).

What’s good: just everything about it – the ease of it, and the comfort food flavor.
What’s not: nothing whatsoever!

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Black bean soup with nice crunchy chewiness from bacon and sun-dried tomatoes, with a soothing, cool sour cream (or yogurt) cilantro dollop on top. Super easy too!

You’re going to be seeing some new soup recipes here. And this one is the best of the bunch. It may not look like it’s something noteworthy, but it is. Trust me on that. A couple of weeks ago I attended a class with Phillis Carey, and it seems like every year about this time she comes up with a new repertoire of soup recipes. My friend Cherrie, who’s now on the radiation part of her journey with breast cancer, and I went to a class with Phillis. The first class we’ve been able to go to in quite some time. We’ve missed seeing Phillis, but mostly we’ve missed new Phillis recipes! She made 4 soups and a dessert (a mocha cake). I’ll be posting the recipes in the next couple of weeks.

This recipe could almost be a throw-together one on a weeknight, IF you have bacon on hand, a can of black beans, the sun-dried tomatoes, sour cream or yogurt and cilantro. Most of those are staples I keep all the time. Oh, forgot – fresh lime juice too. I don’t always have that! Limes seem to go south so soon. Not like lemons that will keep on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks.

I’ve only made one change to Phillis’ recipe – she pureed the soup in the blender (you could use an immersion blender too) – but the bacon (thick-sliced) left lots and lots of little hard nuggets in the soup – so I’ve altered the recipe to cooking it fully from the beginning, then reserving it to add the bacon crumbles later. The bacon grease will flavor the soup and the bacon will be in little crumbles with a different (better) texture than doing it the other way. I also added some more chicken broth to the soup at the end (because I barely had 4 servings – it seemed fine with that addition).

Phillis explained that this soup has been one of her favorites for years and years. She wasn’t sure, but thought she might have shared it a decade or two ago in a cooking class. She serves this to guests too, even though it’s a casual kind of heart-warming one dish meal; she makes it in really large quantities and says it will keep for a couple of months in the freezer. I made it as is, and will just barely have enough for 4 servings. Next time I will definitely need to double the recipe!

The only advice Phillis gave us was to make sure when we buy the sun-dried tomatoes we get the ones that are soft and pliable, not dry and brittle or flaked. Hers came from Trader Joe’s. She also recommended we make this ahead – at least one day – because it tastes so much better. She made it in about 30 minutes or less at the class, and I thought it was fabulous. So don’t hesitate to do it at the last minute if that’s all the time you have.

What’s good: just the overall taste and texture. Loved it altogether. It’s not vegetarian, but almost – except for the bacon, of course. I don’t suppose it would be anywhere near as good without the bacon, but you could try it.
What’s not: not a single thing.

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It’s so rare that I make a recipe that is as easy as this one. If you have some of that new long-term fresh canned crab on hand, you could make all of this from cans. I prefer larger shrimp (probably frozen type) to the canned ones, but even with that, it’s still very, very easy to make.

It’s been umpteen years ago that I had this soup the first time. My friend Cherrie and I took a trip to England together. We’ve done that twice, so I’m not sure which trip it was, but we went to visit dear friends near Reading (in England they pronounce that redding), and Rita had made this lovely soup for us to have, as we arrived quite late at night. All we had to do was heat it up and serve it. Cherrie wrote down the recipe and has made it several times over the ensuing years. Rita also shared another recipe that’s here on my blog, a lemon sponge pudding  that’s just “the best.”

I’d forgotten all about this delicious soup, but we decided to make it recently for our New Year’s Eve dinner for the 4 of us. It was easy and quick and we didn’t have anything else except some fresh rosemary olive oil bread on the side. No salad. Nothing else, and it was very satisfying.

We did use some bigger fresh shrimp (well, they say all shrimp has been frozen whether it says so or not), and because the only fresh crab I could find (also likely previously frozen) was King crab at $39.95 a pound with shells, I decided to buy some lump lobster meat instead. Which actually got totally lost in the soup. It’s a shame to buy half a pound of lobster meat and not really taste it.

With the two of us working in the kitchen together it took about 20 minutes to make, beginning to end. We had been playing many rounds of Mexican Train as we sipped some champagne, then we took a break to fix this light dinner. Easy for sure. And very tasty.

This soup is mostly milk, not cream, although it does have a cup of half and half in it. It’s quite low in fat too. This is a light kind of soup – it’s not thick at all – and it’s not overly rich, either. You can easily have a big bowl of it and not feel stuffed. Don’t expect this soup to be one of those over-the-top kinds that radiates butter or cream – no heavy cream in it – and no butter. If you’d like to richen it up a little, add a tablespoon or two of butter at the end (or add it in earlier when you cook the potatoes), and also add about 1/3 cup of heavy cream. But it didn’t need it – it was lovely as it was. It’s also not overly fishy, either – there isn’t any fish in it, just the shellfish. If you like canned clams, canned shrimp and canned crab, you can keep those on hand to make this on the fly.

The corn – it calls for a pound can of creamed corn, and I paid attention to that because once served you really can’t even tell there was any corn in it. So that’s why I’ve added just the one line about optional fresh corn cut off the cob. If you happen to have some, add that too, although truly it’s not a necessity.

What’s good: just how easy it was to make, and mostly from cans, although we didn’t do that exactly. It’s a light soup – not rich or heavy or thick. It would make a great family night dinner with some bread. If you want to fancy it up, add some cream and butter.
What’s not: really nothing – it was a very satisfying soup – I liked it very much.

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You don’t need to have a friend who’s ill in order to make this delicious soup. My friend Cherrie was recovering (and still is) from major breast cancer surgery and her first day home from the hospital I took this big batch of soup. It was a cool day (for California anyway), overcast, almost foggy. A perfect day for heart-warming soup.

Knowing I wanted to make chicken noodle soup. . . well, there are just a few (ha) recipes out there by that name. If you do a google search, it comes up with 6.2 million hits. Oh my. Originally I was going to use a Tyler Florence recipe, but then I saw this one from Anne Burrell (she has the Food Network show  Secrets of a Restaurant Chef). Reading the comments from people gave me all I needed to know that I would try her recipe. What makes it different is the addition of a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. When I read that, I thought whoa!  Gee, cinnamon and nutmeg? Really? And she makes use of more lemon (a whole one). It adds a brightness to the flavors. It also used orzo (she suggested it as one of the possible pastas to choose). I liked that option. And the comments from people who had made it contained lots of superlatives like fantastic, awesome, fabulous. Those words speak volumes to me when I’m researching for a recipe to try. It’s nice that some of the big food websites allow people to comment.

One of the more unusual things about this recipe is cooking the pasta separately. I really like this little tidbit of advice. I didn’t do that step when I made it, but I will in the future – for just that reason – orzo is tiny and it gets lost in the soup. When I served myself there wasn’t any orzo left – I mean, it was still good, but I’d have liked a few little pieces at least! The other nice thing is that if you put the pasta IN the soup, it may get very over cooked.

As usual, I did make a few minor changes: (1) I used chicken breasts and thighs (no legs); (2) I added peas and carrots to the soup; (3) I added in about a quart of gelatinous turkey stock I had left over from our Thanksgiving turkey as well as a little plop of Penzey’s chicken soup base (and I would absolutely guarantee you that if you made this soup – one with the Penzey’s soup base and one without, well, you’d for sure know the one with it tastes better – if you don’t have any turkey stock, that’s fine – I had it and wanted to use it up, that’s all – it was super-flavorful); (4) no white beans were added – didn’t think it needed it; and (5) I halved the amount of orzo (or pasta) indicated. I wanted it to be more about the chicken, veggies and the broth, rather than the carbs.

The report I got back was that the soup was wonderful. Actually I scooped out just enough for us to have a dinner with it, and I concur – it was really delicious. You can’t TASTE the cinnamon or nutmeg – there isn’t enough of it in there – but I’m certain it adds something.

What’s good: the overall good-ness of it – great flavored broth – and all the simple vegetables in it. I also really loved the lemon in it – add more in at the end even – it truly does just brighten the flavors. It’s not hard to make, and it will definitely keep for a few days in the refrigerator. Or freeze it for a later date.
What’s not: really nothing at all. It was altogether delicious.

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See those little meatballs in that soup? Oh gosh were they good! Enhanced with poblano chiles, they gave the meatballs SO much flavor. I love poblano chiles (also known as pasilla), and these were broiled in the oven, then I removed the skins. The soup itself is just a background, although it’s good. But the stars of the show are the meatballs.

If you don’t live in a part of the world where Mexican food is an everyday staple, you might not have heard of albondigas (all-bon-dee-gahs). Usually albondigas is a broth, a few veggies (usually carrots and onions, maybe green pepper) and meatballs. This, however, is a much more high class version. I changed the recipe around just a little bit because I wanted more substance to the soup part. The original recipe came from Bon Appetit, back in 2010. I wanted a soup type dinner to serve to our families who were driving out to Palm Desert to stay with us for the Thanksgiving weekend. They were coming from different directions and at different times, so I thought I should have a soup that could be just heated up and served. I made it a couple of days before since I knew I’d be crazy-busy working on side dishes for Thanksgiving that day.

The original recipe used ground beef (all albondigas does), but I lightened it up by combining equal parts ground turkey and ground beef. The meatballs also contain some grated zucchini (which also gives the meatballs a lighter texture) and then the roasted poblano chiles. And some Mexican type seasoning. I baked them in the oven rather than cooking them in the soup (so I could drain off any fat and because I was transporting the soup and thought it would be easier that way).

The broth/soup part was fairly bland according to many commenters at epicurious, so that’s why I decided to make some changes to the soup. I added more beefy flavor by using penzey’s soup base. Because the soup contains Ancho Chili Powder (and you DO need that if you want this soup to taste really good), the color was very brown (see photo). So, I changed around the recipe some so you don’t add the ancho chile powder until the very last. That way all the veggies in the soup (the rice, the corn and zucchini) all stay bright colored. Once those veggies dwell in the soup for awhile, everything turns a brown color because the fine dust of the chile powder nestles in all the crevices of the corn and zucchini particularly (not at all appetizing). If you cook the rice in this broth it also turns brown. But the ancho chile powder is very flavorful and a needed component. I also took some hints from a similar recipe by Rachel Ray and added corn and more toppings. They add wonderful texture and crunch. Also needed.

We ate nearly all of it at that one meal (I doubled the recipe) and left the remainder in the freezer at our desert house, so we’ll have more of it next time we visit. I’m looking forward to those meatballs – they have really great flavor.

What’s good: particularly the poblano-enhanced meatballs – they’re definitely the highlight. The soup part is good too – hearty and with lots of textures.
What’s not: there is a lot of sous-chef stuff to do (chopping, roasting, mincing) but it’s worth it. I’d definitely make it again, but if you’re making it ahead I recommend you keep the ancho chile out until just before serving – that way it won’t discolor all the veggies.

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This recipe I’ve had for about 6 years, and just hadn’t ever gotten around to making it. What a shame, since I know I’d have fixed it several times in the interim had I just known how wonderful it is. It could be a completely vegetarian meal if you make a few little tweaks. There is pancetta in it, and I added chicken, although that’s definitely non-classic to pistou.

The original recipe for this came from Paula Wolfert in an article in Food & Wine (August 2006). It has 2 components – the soup part which has white beans, oodles of veggies and a small amount of pasta – and the pesto (pistou) part that is slightly different than the traditional Italian pesto. The pistou uses basil and garlic and oil, but it has you add an aged Gouda, not Parmesan.

The basil pistou is buried in the bottom center of the soup bowl. I asked each person at the table to just stir it in. I could have put it on top – it would have been more noticeable that way.

You could – if you’re pressed for time – use canned white beans. But, I’d urge you to make the beans from scratch because of the wonderful flavors used in it (onion, garlic, bay leaf and pancetta). I soaked the beans overnight in cold water. In the morning, I drained them, then added more fresh water and the add-ins, and cooked them in 13 minutes in the pressure cooker. So easy! Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen gave me the idea in a recent post about pinto beans and how easy they are to make in the pressure cooker. Indeed!

The most labor intensive thing about this soup is probably chopping up the fennel, onion, and the veggies. I used my Alligator 11-1/4-Inch Dicer with Collector
for the fennel and onion. I don’t ever put a whole onion in this thing (as you can see from the photo). But I love it because it makes uniform dice. If I’m chopping more than one thing, I will dig this out and use it. It does cut down on a lot of time spent chopping.

Anyway, you sweat the fennel and onion in some EVOO, then you add the potatoes (which almost totally disintegrate during the simmering). Water is added (and I spooned in some Penzey’s chicken soup base to boost the flavor. Green beans and zucchini are added toward the end. Once they’re nearly cooked, I added in the already cooked beans and brought the mixture up to a simmer again (important). Then you do one more step – kind of like a step in making pilaf – you brown the raw (dry) pasta in butter. See picture at left. That is poured into the soup and you turn off the heat, cover the pot and set it aside for 25 minutes.

In that time, the pasta cooks completely. Sometime earlier in the day you will have made the pistou – it’s like a pesto except that this one calls for an aged Gouda instead of Parm. The recipe said you could also use Mimolette cheese (I’m not familiar with it). If you’re in an all-fired hurry, you probably could use bottled pesto in this. You’re supposed to make the pistou in a mortar, but that was taking the authenticity just a bit too far for me – I used a food processor. I just didn’t scrape it all down to a complete mush, so there were a few basil leaves that were left in shreds. My mortar isn’t all that big – I just decided it was easier altogether.

You’ll want the soup bowls at the ready, and at that magic 25-minute mark, the pasta is cooked just right and you spoon into each bowl a bit of the pesto and ladle in the soup. DO stir the pesto into the soup. The object is not to cook the pesto – otherwise you would just add the whole mixture to the soup pot. The pistou flavor is marvelous – you’ll notice it at the first bite. As I mentioned, I did add chicken (that I’d steeped in water to cover for about an hour – bring water to boil, add chicken – bring back to a simmer, cover, turn off heat and allow to “steep”). I chopped it up and added it to the finished soup – it did not sit in the 25-minute rest. I served the soup with some delicious toasted cheese bread. Recipe to come on that.

What’s good: well, I could go on and on. I absolutely LOVED this soup. Very hearty. Really, quite healthy too – it’s relatively low in fat. The only fat in it is the little bit of olive oil added at the beginning and the butter used to sauté the pasta. I LOVED the veggies. I LOVED the textures. LOVED the pistou swirled through it. It was marvelous.
What’s not: I couldn’t find a thing I’d change. If you would prefer to make this a vegetarian entrée, use vegetable stock, don’t add the pancetta to the bean mixture, and don’t add chicken.

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