Pasta e Fagioli

We’re eating from the cupboards this week, and pasta e fagioli is right in line with that! 

 

Traditionally a peasant food, this soup is always made with pasta and beans (hence the literal translation of the name).  I’m not a huge pasta fan – mainly a textural issue, and it’s also pretty nutritionally devoid – but I had some leftover macaroni from my Christmas mac and cheese side dish contribution, and this is the only thing I could stomach it in.  The combination of ingredients here is very flexible and reflects what I had in the house today.

 

The pasta overtook the dish, but I promise there are lots of little white beans in there!

 

 

Pasta e Fagioli

 

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tsp of your favorite Italian seasonings (I used a combination of dried thyme, oregano, marjoram, and basil)

2 bay leaves

2 quarts (8 cups) beef bone broth

1 cup cannellini beans, rinsed and soaked overnight

1 cup macaroni (or other small pasta)

1 can diced tomatoes

½ cup green beans (from freezer)

Freshly ground pepper and sea salt, to taste

 

1. Heat oil in a large pot until it is very hot but not smoking.  Add onions and carrots (you should hear a loud sizzle!), sautéing until soft.  Then add garlic and all the aromatics, sautéing for just a couple more minutes.  I don’t add salt and pepper until later since it interferes with cooking the beans.

 

2.  Add broth and bring to a boil, then add beans and cook until soft.  This step will take the longest – an hour or two, depending on the age and quality of the beans.  This step can be shortened by using pre-cooked beans, but I didn’t have any on hand.

 

3.  When beans are almost soft enough to eat, add pasta to the pot.  You can also add salt and pepper at this step.  If everything is timed well, the pasta and beans should be done about the same time.  Then add tomatoes and green beans to heat through (I don’t like them to be overcooked).

 

4.  Garnish with freshly grated parmesan cheese, a dollop of crème fraîche, or eat it simply by itself.

 

Enjoy this inexpensive yet filling dinner!

 

Part of the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Short Rib Soup/Stew

This boiled dinner is best made ahead of time.  Short ribs are an inexpensive, fatty cut of meat that can really be stretched.  In addition to the soup, you get some great marrowy bones and a bunch of fat that can be rendered for later cooking. 

 

Bones on the left; solidified fat on the right

 

 

 

Not that I’ve ever done the rendering before, but I’ve been doing some research on how to do it, so I think I have the confidence to try it out next week!

 

Short Rib Soup/Stew

 

2 lbs. short ribs with bones

2 tbsp. rice vinegar

1 tsp. ground anise

2 potatoes

3 carrots

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Water to cover (more water = soup, less = stew)

 

1. Put all the ingredients into a large pot with enough water to cover (more if you want it even brothier – I did).  Bring to a boil, then drop to a simmer (I used my lowest gas setting) and cook covered for several hours.

 

2. When done, remove short ribs and chop them up into bite-sized pieces.  The bones should easily slide out if they haven’t already come out into the soup.  The chopped meat goes back into the soup.

 

The soup can be eaten at this point, but the fatty mouthfeel is a bit odd.  So let it sit until it reaches room temperature, then store in the refrigerator until the fat solidifies at the top.  Skim the larger fat pieces, reheat, and serve.

 

I think I need a camera with a macro setting.

 

For more nourishing, frugal recipes, visit The Nourishing Gourmet.  I also submitted this to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

 

Chocolate Chili: Second Attempt

 

Our first attempt was this recipe, which was totally inedible to us.  But now, Husband and I have come to the consensus that we just don’t like chocolate in our chili.  The recipe we tried tonight was from my friend Heidi, who is an excellent cook, so at least we could eat our dinner this time.  The complex sweetness of the cocoa and molasses is countered a bit by the chili powder and other savory flavors, so I’m sure there are others out there who would enjoy this.  For instance, if you like the Mexican dish mole, you would really enjoy this chili.  (We’re not into mole!  But I know lots of people who are.)

 

Here is Heidi’s recipe; we used a pound of dried beans (mixture of pinto, black, and kidney instead of canned beans:

 

Vegan Chocolate Chili

 

¼ cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons chili power

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cumin

1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

1 14 ounce can of tomatoes with green chiles, or tomatoes with jalapenos if you want it spicier

3 tablespoons molasses

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

2 14 ounce cans of kidney beans

1 14 ounce can of pinto beans

1 14 ounce can of black beans

 

Sauté the onions and peppers in the olive oil in a large pot, covered on low-medium for about 10 minutes or until a bit soft and browned.  Add the garlic and sauté for another 5 minutes.  Add the spices and cook for another minute then add the tomatoes, molasses, cocoa powder, and beans and cook on low-medium heat for about 20 minutes.  If it looks too thick you can add a can of tomato sauce or some water. Turn off heat and serve after about 10 minutes.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Just so you know, this is one of my all-time favorite soups.  It can be modified to be completely vegan (although I prefer it with cheese on top) or loaded with lots of chicken.  I will start with a recipe for how I made mine last night, detailing other substitutions I’ve made below.

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 jalapeno, finely diced (seeds = heat, so remove seeds if you don’t like it hot)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp chili powder

2 quarts vegetable broth

2 cups crushed tomatoes

3 cups black beans, cooked

1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded

2 cups corn, frozen (use fresh when in season)

¼ cup fresh cilantro

 

Suggested toppings:

 

Tortilla chips

Grated cheese (I like pepper jack – adds even more spice!) or crème fraîche

Sliced avocado

Chopped scallions

 

1.  In a dutch oven/stock pot/whatever you make soup in, heat the olive oil on medium.  When hot, add onion and jalapeno, sautéing until onion changes color.  Add garlic and sauté a little longer, being sure not to burn garlic.  Then add broth and crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil.

 

2.  Once it comes to a boil, add beans, chicken, corn and cilantro and heat through.  Since I used precooked ingredients (all leftovers!), this was all quick and easy.

 

3.  Top with your choice of toppings and serve!

 

 

This batch is on the brothier side because I don’t measure.

 

Now here are my copious notes – I have been making this for a long time, so I kind of have a lot to say. J

 

-         I make at least one large batch of beans every week for various meals.  Often I have a little more than I need, so I freeze the cooked beans in three cup portions so I can just thaw them in the refrigerator as needed.  You could also use canned beans or turn this into a slow cooker meal to cook it from dried beans and uncooked chicken.  Just don’t add the corn until close to the end or it will get mushy.

 

-         I’ve made this using boneless, skinless breasts before, but it’s more expensive that way – which is why I just cook a whole chicken now and portion out the meat.  Just sauté the chicken with the onion and jalapeno if using uncooked chicken.

 

-         Fire-roasted corn is great in here, too.  Many months from now, when fresh corn is easy to come by locally, just roast some on your grill and cut it off the cob to add in.

 

-         For a milder flavor, use a milder pepper than the jalapeno.  Or use a 4 ounce can of chopped green chiles.

 

-         For a beanier soup, omit the chicken and substitute the chicken for some pinto beans.  I would switch to bone broth for more nutrition, too.

 

-         In the summer, roasted red bell peppers are a great addition, too.

 

I’m sure there’s more, but I’ll have to add to it later.  Let me know if you make any fun substitutions!

 

This recipe was submitted to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Vegetable Stock

With all my talk of bone broth, I thought I should add that I do still make vegetable broth.  I don’t, however, use meat and vegetable broth completely interchangeably. Let me explain.

 

If I’m making a meatless dish, I use a bone broth as the base, since I’m seeking to boost the nutrition.  Also, Husband gets the impression he’s eating meat when he tastes meat flavor and doesn’t complain about having to eat another bean soup.  I don’t do this when preparing meals for vegetarians, though, because I’m not that much of a jerk.

 

The vegetable broth gets used when I need a base for a meal that does contain meat.  You see, we don’t go through enough meat for me to make enough bone broth to cover every meal in between.  Tonight, for instance – I’m making Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Since I’m including chicken in the soup, it makes more sense for my budget to use vegetable broth.  I would use the chicken broth for this if I could, but then I would run out sooner.  Since I won’t (really, can’t) use packaged broths, it just makes sense for me to find a way to stretch it.  I have been known to take chicken carcasses from other people, though – thanks, TR!

 

If you’ve never made vegetable broth before, it is incredibly easy.  Even easier than bone broth!  Just not as nutritious, of course, so I only use it for flavor.  Here are the steps:

 

1) Save all your vegetable scraps.  Anytime I dice an onion, mince some garlic, peel a carrot – I add the scraps to a plastic bag I keep in the freezer door.  Anything can be saved, even if it’s a part you don’t normally eat (like onion skin or a carrot top), just make sure there are no signs of spoilage.  If you see mold, then it goes straight to the compost pile.

 

2) When you need the stock for a soup, just throw all the scraps into a stock pot or slow cooker and cover with water.  The stock pot is the better way to go for this one, since it doesn’t have to simmer as long (just until the color is deep enough for your liking).  Just like the bone broth, however, you’ll heat the water until it starts to boil, then turn it down to a simmer.  In as little as an hour or two, you can have a very flavorful stock.

 

Here is what it looks like before when you throw everything in:

 

 

I used my slow cooker that time because I was using my stock pot for something else.  I don’t usually care about having it too deeply infused, though, just enough to impart some flavor, so afterward it looks like this:

 

This is a really bad picture.

 

That is today’s batch, which has some cilantro in it that was past its prime.  It will lend some great flavor to my Mexican-inspired soup tonight.  I don’t add salt or pepper to my stocks, since that can all be done when the actual meal is made.  Fresh herbs are a great touch, though, if you have some that are not so pretty anymore.

Black Bean Soup with Chard and Sweet Potatoes

 

We postponed date night until Friday, so my menu will be a bit off this week.  But it always is. J

 

I went ahead and made the black bean soup, since I knew the chard and sweet potatoes would get eaten for lunch if I waited too long.  I love the combination of the black beans, chard, and sweet potatoes – something I discovered by accident while combining leftovers – so I continue to plan my menus with this in mind.

 

These instructions are for a slow cooker, but this could be done on the stove with a dutch oven, as well.

 

Black Bean Soup with Chard and Sweet Potatoes

 

1 pound of dried black beans, rinsed and soaked 24 hours

2 quarts chicken bone broth (or enough to come 2 inches above beans)

3 pinches of asafoetida (scroll down through this post to see why)

Salt and pepper to taste

1-2 cups sautéed chard (leftovers – I made extra last night just for this)

1-2 cups roasted sweet potatoes (also leftover from last night)

 

1.     Place beans, broth, and asafoetida in slow cooker, cooking on high for three hours – or low for 7-8 hours – or until tender. 

2.     When beans are done, add salt and pepper to taste and the leftover chard and sweet potatoes.  Don’t worry about preheating the vegetables before adding to the pot – just stir them in and let them sit with the beans for a few minutes (with slow cooker still on) and they will warm up.

 

We ate the soup with gluten-free banana muffins. The muffins are based on this recipe, since it was the best one I could find using the Bob’s Red Mill GF All-Purpose Baking Mix and not calling for xanthan gum.  They were light and banana-y.  Much better than I expected, since I’m very new to baking — especially gluten-free baking!  I really wanted to make them with coconut flour, but I only had about a teaspoon of coconut oil and no other suitable substitute (we can’t use butter because of dairy allergies).  Maybe next week!

 

For more nourishing soups and stews, visit the Nourishing Gourmet.  For more gluten-free ideas, visit the Gluten-Free Real Food carnival at Cheeseslave.

White Chili

I used to make this with chicken, but it’s really not necessary if you’re using real chicken bone broth (or any homemade broth, for that matter).  It’s dairy-free (for my daughter’s sake), full of folate and iron, and super frugal!  Easy, too.

 

White Chili

 

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

½ – 1 cup green chilis, diced

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp pepper, freshly ground

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 quarts chicken broth

3 cups white beans, rinsed and soaked overnight (I soaked mine for 24 hours.)

 

1.     In a stockpot, heat olive oil on medium heat.  When hot, add onion and green chilis.  Sauté until onion starts to caramelize, then add cumin, pepper, and garlic.  Sauté two minutes more.

 

2.     Add the broth and bring to a boil, then add beans.  Let it cook at a slow boil until the beans have softened, then use a stick blender to puree some of the beans.  This will give the soup a creamy texture, but don’t puree the whole thing (like I did tonight! oops!) – you’ll still want to see some whole beans.

 

Right now you’re thinking, “This sounds similar to your Split Pea Soup recipe from Sunday.”  And you’re correct – you’ve discovered just how uncreative I am when it comes to making simple bean soups.  They’re all very tasty, though, and I prefer to call it a template.  Templates save time, and if I can find a way to simplify my dinner routine and still make real food, then I feel good about it.

 

I served cornbread with this tonight, but fresh chips and salsa would be the best accompaniment.

 

Part of the Real Food Wednesday blog carnival hosted by Cheeseslave and the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap.

Easy Split Pea Soup

My first split pea soup recipe came from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but I’ve made so many changes from my own experience and from similar recipes that I feel like this one is my own.  Not that this one is overly elaborate, but this seems to be the magic formula for us.  I hope you enjoy it, too!

 

Easy Split Pea Soup

 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

3 carrots, chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

Salt, pepper, marjoram, thyme, parsley, and paprika – all to taste

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 quarts bone broth (I used one made from my pork roast last week, but I usually use chicken broth. Vegetable stock could also be used.)

1 lb. dry split peas, sorted and rinsed

 

1.     In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil at medium heat.  You want the oil to be hot enough that when you drop a piece of onion in, it sizzles, but not so hot that it’s starting to smoke.  When the oil is hot, add the onion, carrots, and celery.  Saute until it starts caramelizing, then add the spices and the garlic.  (NEVER add garlic at the beginning, as it can burn.)  Saute for another two minutes.

 

2.     Add the broth and bring to a boil, then add the split peas.  Let it cook at a slow boil until a split pea tested is tender and not too starchy (? not sure how to better describe this).  When the peas are tender enough, use a stick blender to make the soup smooth.  (A regular blender will work, too, but make sure you cool the soup before putting it in or it will explode. That’s not based on experience or anything.

 

This is about four servings – it fed my family of four, anyway, with enough leftover for Husband’s lunch.  Also, I don’t soak my split peas like I would other things because they are low in phytic acid.  You can add croutons (Deborah Madison’s suggestion), serve with some kind of bread, or just add a green salad.  I hope you enjoy it!

Mid-Week Dinner Narratives

I’ve been trying to get back into talking about our meals, but this week just hasn’t been very exciting in the kitchen.  Here’s a recap, anyway, just for accountability’s sake:

 

We ended up having the White Chili on Monday, since we ate out for lunch earlier that day (Simon had his 1-year-old well visit!).  I rarely make things the same way twice, so this time around, I just sautéed some onion, garlic, diced green chiles, cumin, salt, and pepper in some olive oil, then added some chicken broth I had stored in my freezer.  I omitted the grilled chicken and just added cannellini beans to make the base.  After the beans were finished cooking, I used my immersion blender to puree some of it in the pot, then served it with a salad (no cornbread – I forgot – so we had my whole wheat bread with it instead).  My daughter ate her first soup and salad course, and then went on to eat two more salads.  She really amazes us sometimes!

 

Tuesday was taco night, because Husband picked up some carnitas that just had to be used by that day.  So I cooked up a batch of pinto beans in the crock pot, some brown rice with tomatoes in the rice cooker, and we made burritos (I had three flour tortillas to use up) and tacos.

 

We were gone all day Wednesday visiting various friends and family, but we spent all day today at home (and mostly doing nothing) and had leftovers for dinner.  Tomorrow I’m making orange chicken – I even remembered to put the chicken in the refrigerator to thaw, so hopefully things are looking up for my productivity level.

How To Make A TV Dinner

I don’t normally throw together a bunch of packaged things and call it dinner, but I’m still climbing out of the ditch from last week.  I also totally forgot what I had planned tonight, so this was not on Monday’s menu plan.  Impromptu dinner: chili, cornbread, and sauteed chard.  This is how we did it…

 

Whole Foods has cans of chili beans (meaning they’re already seasoned) on sale for 37 cents, and I bought some a few weeks ago just because.  I also bought a bag of Trader Joe’s Chard of Many Colors last week, because I knew I didn’t feel like doing a lot of prep work.  So those were my prepared foods.

 

 

Husband’s been craving a chili made with beef, so I sauteed a shallot, some bell pepper, and tomatoes in a pot and then browned half a pound of ground beef.  Just add the canned chili beans, and there’s the main dish.  These were all items I just happened to have on hand.

 

The chard is easy to prepare, even if you don’t buy the washed/cut/bagged variety.  This mixture from Trader Joe’s was really good, though, because it had a few different types of chard and kale.  Just prepare this the same way you would spinach — put a tablespoon (or more, if you prefer) of olive oil in a skillet, throw in some minced garlic once it’s hot, then wilt the chard.  I just dump it all in and use tongs to evenly distribute the hot oil over the leaves.

 

 

Isn’t that pretty?  I like to cook it down a bit so it’s not too crunchy, but not so much that it’s like canned spinach.  You can taste test it while it cooks to find the perfect texture for you.  This cooks pretty quickly, so you do have to watch it so it doesn’t get too mushy.

 

Earlier in the day, I made some cornbread to go with all this.  I always have the cornbread ingredients on hand, and it’s incredibly simple to make. 

 

 

Yummy!