Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Pasta e Fagioli - Sort of…or Something Nice for Hump Day :)

Several things turn my mind to soup.  First, it’s one of my absolute favorite foods.  If offered the choice between a well made soup or stew and a filet mignon, I’d be hard pressed to make a decision.  Then, winter’s coming.  Temperatures are plunging and we’ve had snow twice here.  It isn’t lasting, but it will soon enough.  Finally, I had the remnants of a chicken in the fridge.  Combine all those things in my kitchen and soup happens :)

These are my basics for soup and they have to be fresh.  Other things might be prepared, but these four have to be fresh - carrots, celery, onions and mushrooms.  These mushrooms were a hoot - there were four of them and they came to just over a pound - yeah, regular white mushrooms!  It seemed a shame to cut them up, they were so beautiful, but the only other alternative would have been to use them as soup bowls...naaahhh!  The bowl you see lurking in the background is stock and there were two bags of this stuff in the freezer that I also used.

I did this in the crock pot (have I told you how much I love my crock pot?) and started putting things together at about 10:00 last night.  (Note: I highly recommend doing it this way - putting a soup together in the crock pot before going to bed.  The aroma you wake up to in the morning is unbelievable and makes you feel warm and loved :) - Ahhhh!!))

Cutting up the onions did a number on my eyes - really made ‘em hurt!  Made me wonder how we (mankind) ever figured out this stuff was actually edible!  Eh, no matter.  I’ve read that if you use onions often and cut them up frequently, you get used to them and they don’t make you cry.  Seems I remember a time when that was true - I didn’t have any problems with onions.  But it ain’t true any more - guess preparing the eye-watering little buggers once or twice a month isn’t enough to confer immunity :)





No, this isn’t a real clear stock; it’s cloudy with chicken bits, garlic bits and the occasional rosemary leaf.  It is, however, very low fat and very potent :) I had two bags of this in the freezer (courtesy of previous chickens) and I put both bags in this bowl and remanded them to the microwave for 10 minutes to thaw.  Then I added the fresh stock from the last chicken (after removing the fat) and added that to the crock pot with the vegetables.

At the last minute, I found a lone tomato in the fridge, so I cut that up and threw it in too.  I didn’t want to add the chicken or the pasta until morning so at that point I put the lid on the crock pot and left it to work its magic.

When I got up, after making my coffee (first things first, after all), I cooked a pound of penne pasta and added that to the soup along with about a pound of cooked chicken in somewhat large hunks.  I like a chunky soup :)





Then I remembered that I also had a can of chick peas and a small can of tomato sauce in the cabinet that had been feeling unwanted and which would do nothing but enhance what was already in the pot.  So I added them as well.  At this point, we had to move from the crock pot to the kettle because there wasn’t any more room.  That means there’s a couple of gallons of soup here :) Hah!





And here’s the finished wonderfulness accompanied by a lightly buttered piece of spinach infused flat bread for dunking.

So the recipe, such as it is, goes something like this:

Leftover Chicken Soup cum Pasta e Fagioli

1 lb cooked, cut up chicken
1 lb carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 bunch celery, washed, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 med onions, peeled and chopped
1 lb mushrooms, chopped
1 tomato, chopped (I only had one, but use as many or as few as you like)
6 or 7 cups chicken stock
1 lb penne pasta
1 can chick peas
1 small can tomato sauce
About a quarter cup of dried parsley (would have used fresh, but I forgot to get any)
Salt and pepper to taste

The night before you want the soup, place the carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, tomato, parsley and stock into a 5 quart crock pot.  Set it on “low” for about an hour.  Then turn it to “high” and go to bed.

In the morning (or about 10 hours later), cook the pasta and add it, the chicken, the chick peas and the tomato sauce to the pot (or to a larger pot if you need to at that point!).  Let simmer till lunchtime.  Then break out your favorite bread and feast!

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1. ummmm, sounds good- want a guest for dinner? we are soupaholics and i find that making soup has a calming effect- its such a ‘hands on’ thing (and the added benefit of clearing out bits and pieces from the fridge isn’t bad either)-

   those mushrooms are giant fellows for sure- you wonder about how people took the first try at onions, while i always wonder who took the first bite of a mushroom- whoever did it has my eternal gratitude-

   i have masses of frozen turkey stock and your blog entry has made me hungry- btw, the pics on ‘yarnpath’ are *always* great-

   stay happy-

   Posted by  on  12/08  at  12:18 PM
   Location : heading for the kitchen



2. Barb - By all means come for dinner.  Bring Leo, there’s plenty to go around :) I too find the peeling and chopping prep work soothing - in fact I’m always surprised to find that it’s done - I kinda get into the zone :)

   Thanks for the picture compliment - I’m glad they look good to you!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  12/08  at  01:54 PM
   Location : Between the devil and the deep blue sea.



3. Thank God I read your blog just a few minutes before lunch so I didn’t have to suffer my hunger pangs for too long!

   I’m not big on spinach-anything but I must say the spinach flat bread makes the soup look like a very sophisticated meal indeed.

   Fun entry! Thanks, Robbyn!

   Posted by Ryan  on  12/08  at  05:28 PM
   Location :



4. Yummmmy!  It’s almost dinner time here and now I am super hungry, unfortunately I’m the one how as to prepare the meal....after seeing and reading your soup tutorial, I wish I could go in the kitchen and see it already made.
   Cet la vie…
   ~DAWN

   Posted by Dawn  on  12/08  at  05:40 PM
   Location :



5. I’m so hungry! And the only thing in my house is peanut butter.  But I’m too lazy to go an entire BLOCK down to the store. haha

   Posted by Laura  on  12/08  at  07:09 PM
   Location :



6. Ryan - You can have the sun-dried tomato flat bread :) Actually, the only thing spinachy about the other is the color.  Lightly buttered, very lightly salted and as much fresh ground pepper as you like - wonderful stuff to dip in your broth :)

   Dawn - You might give this a try someday, if you have a crock pot.  It’s super easy and really, really good :)

   Laura - Sorry about that :( I love peanut butter (the natural kind) but sometimes a girl’s just got to have soup!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  12/08  at  08:10 PM
   Location : Between the devil and the deep blue sea.



7. Robbyn, I love soup, too.  Remember the commune chili pot I offered to keep full?  Did you mean to put the crock pot on low for 1 hour and then high all night?? or the other way around?

   Posted by Chery  on  12/08  at  09:34 PM
   Location : KCMO



8. This is an evil plot to keep me fat.  I swear I am living on the tortallini recipe from a few months ago and now soup!  I hate you..... just like any proper relative hates~ so when are you gonna adopt me proper and start cooking for me?

   Posted by elka  on  12/08  at  10:37 PM
   Location :



9. Onions…

   Local tradition here is to store them in the refrigerator AND to leave the root portion untouched until the last so that the aroma is released more slowly. Between these tips, which we’ve employed for years, onions hold no terror for us.

   For a more exalted discussion, see this:
   http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/onion.html

   But I’m with you on the soup - it’s real food and it better be chunky!

   Posted by  on  12/09  at  01:15 AM
   Location :



10. Chery - I meant to have it on “high” all night.  The vegetables were still just a bit “toothsome” in the morning.  Carrots threaten me :) I’ve had some that wouldn’t soften up no matter what I did, so now I just get firm with them up front!

    Elka - ROFL!  Sorry to be the bane of your existance.  Wait, no...no, I’m not sorry at all.  Besides, the soup is preactically fat-free except for the few drops of olive oil in the water used to cook the pasta.  Oh right, but the tortellini isn’t.  Well, you’ll just have to swap off :)

    Diane - Thanks fir the interesting information which I will try.  I already keep them in the fridge (nowhere else to put them) but will seriously try to remember not to slice off the root end until I absolutely have too.

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/09  at  10:47 AM
    Location : Between the devil and the deep blue sea.



11. Oh I just had to copy the recipe. Think I’ll give it a try this weekend. Thanks!
    PS Love the elephant!

    Posted by  on  12/10  at  06:16 PM
    Location : http://zeneedle.typepad.com/



12. Margene - Oh I hope you enjoy the soup - it really is wonderful :) The elephant thanks you!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/10  at  07:15 PM
    Location : Out on a limb



13. That is a great recipe!  I am a soup lover too - every Sunday I make a big pot and eat it for the week.  I am making this one tmrw. 

    I have the exact same crock pot - it is my favorite kitchen appliance next to my microwave!

    Thanks for the recipe.

    Posted by Colette  on  12/11  at  12:13 PM
    Location :



14. Colette - I think that’s right for me too.  I wouldn’t want to live without either one of them though the crock pot at least gives the illusion of “real” cooking. LOL!!

    Posted by Robbyn  on  12/11  at  12:19 PM
    Location : Out on a limb

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