White Bean Soup with Sausage and Rosemary

I'm going to do it.

Eventually, I'll get one of my kids to eat soup. I mean, other than the tomato "soup" they get a school. So I figure I'll just keep making it until one day they give in. Of course, I enjoy it so it's really no trouble.

Here's my latest effort.

Chicken Soup with Dumplings

My mom used to make this soup - it is very easy, and delicious...my kids even love it.    I usually start by making a roasted chicken dinner one night for dinner (I am sure Tin Pig has a roasted chicken recipe here somewhere), and then making a stock with the leftover carcass.   Just put the leftover chicken carcass in a large stock pot, cover with water, and boil, slightly covered, for approx 2 hours. I then let it cool, and refrigerate.   The next day, you can skim off any fat solids, remove the chicken bones, and leave any of the meat in the stock.    This is the base for the soup.  It makes approx 3 quarts.

Soup:

3 quarts (give or take) Chicken Stock with chicken pieces (see above for recipe)

1 cup Chopped carrots

1+1/2 tsp salt

Fresh Parsley

Dumplings:

1 cup unbleached flour

1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

Mix Soup ingredients above, and bring to medium-low boil.    In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt together.   Add butter, and mix it in with a fork.   Add milk all at once, and stir quickly, and as little as possible, until everything is moistened.   Drop rounded spoonfuls of dumpling dough onto the boiling soup.   Let simmer for 10 minutes uncovered, then cover, and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Enjoy.

Chicken Soup Recipe

Many people have a story of their grandmother's chicken soup that would simmer for 12 days before it could be served. While I hold true to certain cooking traditions, sometimes I want a soup that can be eaten the same day I begin preparing it.

Nothing against your grandmother, but this is a full-flavored chicken soup that comes together fairly quickly and is hearty enough to be a full meal. I find that if you start with a good stock, the soup nearly makes itself. As with most things, I've used my homemade vegetable stock in this recipe, but feel free to substitute with your favorite chicken / veggie stock.

Vegetable Stock Recipe

Once the cold weather starts to set in here in the northeast, my cooking habit turns toward soups and stews. As much as I enjoy doing as much from scratch as possible, I rarely have the leftover animal bones required to make beef or chicken stock.

A much easier way to prepare homemade stock is to go the veggie route. I find that it's much easier to collect save the stems, peels, tops and bottoms of various vegetables than it is to keep some chicken bones laying around. Every time I chop or peel a vegetable, the bit I'd usually toss in the trash (or compost heap, if I had one), I simply add to a ziploc bag in the fridge. After about a week or two, I have enough to make a richly flavored stock.

Pasta Fagioli (with escarole)

This is a very quick, VERY easy, and delicious soup to make.   It is hearty and great for cooler weather.  I recommend a crusty bread for dipping.   There are 3 variations that you can make from this recipe: (1) You can make this without the escarole for regular Pasta Fagioli. (2) There is traditional "Escarole and Bean" - which is similar....just leave out the pasta.    And (3), is a traditional Portuguese Kale Soup, by leaving out pasta, using Kale instead of escarole, and adding cooked chirizo and potatoes.

Serves 4

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock

1/3 lb of small pasta (such as ditalini)

3 garlic cloves

1/4 head of escarole, rinsed and chopped coarsely

1 tbsp fresh parsley

1 can small white beans, drained (navy beans or other)

1/4 cup parmesan or romano cheese

1/4 homemade vegetarian tomato sauce

salt + black pepper to taste

Cook pasta, drain and set aside.  In saute pan, crush the garlic cloves, and cook in olive oil approx 2 minutes.   Add escarole, cover and let cook for 5 minutes.   Remove from heat.   In large pan, bring stock to a simmer.   Add the beans.   Now, remove half the beans to a blender, and blend with small amount of stock, and then return to soup.   An alternative is to add half the beans, and then use an immersion blender (these are great gadgets - go to Amazon from this site).  Add all remaining ingredients, except cooked pasta.   When ready to serve, then laddle soup into bowl, and add pasta separately.   This prevents the pasta from absorbing all the stock.  Top with more grated cheese, and drizzle with olive oil (optional).

Enjoy!