Tortellini Minestrone

Okay, this is possibly my favorite soup of all time.

My beloved mom gave me the America's Test Kitchen cookbook Soups, Stews and Chilis for my birthday. There are still so many recipes I need to try out, but this one is so good that I just keep making it. It's perfect for lunches and lasts me about a week. It's so flavorful and, of course, you can always mix up the ingredients depending on what you have on hand. Andrew normally doesn't find soup to be filling enough for a meal, but he loves this one.

On ingredients: The cookbook says you should use fresh (not frozen or dried) tortellini and fresh (not canned) pesto. I broke both rules because I couldn't find either. I used dried tortellini and just cooked it separately and added it after the zucchini since it didn't really need to cook.

Tortellini Minestrone, serves 4 to 6

Chop 2 slices of bacon into small pieces. Cook it in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until rendered and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. (I've also skipped this step and cooked the carrots and onion in bacon grease, which is faster.)

Peel and cut 2 carrots and 1 medium onion. Stir them into the bacon and cook until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, mince 3 garlic cloves. Stir in the garlic and 1 teaspoon dried oregano and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. (If you have fresh oregano, use 1 tablespoon minced oregano.)

Stir in 3 1/2 cups chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in 2 1/2 cups V8 vegetable juice and a 15-ounce can of small white beans (drained and rinsed) and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the beans have heated through, about 10 minutes.

Cut 1 zucchini into manageable pieces. Stir in 9 oz cooked tortellini and zucchini and continue to simmer until they are tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Dollop individual portions with pesto and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese before serving.

Roasted tomato soup

As I've gotten older (yikes! I promise people still think I'm 18!) I've realized that fall might be my favorite time of year. I love the way it starts to get cold, giving me an excuse to pull out my cardigans and tights and frolic in the leaves. Or, since I live in Florida, I love the way I decide it is the end of September and I have waited long enough for soup season.

This is a Pinterest recipe I've been wanting to try for a while. If you've been reading this blog for a while or have talked to me ever, you may know that I love tomatoes. And I love tomato soup. I was probably the only girl at camp who got excited when lunch on a 100-degree day was tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. It is one of my favorite things of all time, but somehow my tomato soup-making had never progressed past opening a can. Andrew's been sick the past couple of days--which is sad, and I want him to get better, but it did mean I got to make soup. By the time I made it, he was curled up under three blankets again, fast asleep... so I ate most of it myself. You snooze, you lose?

 The perfect lonely-girl dinner?

This recipe is truly, extraordinarily good. The flavors are perfectly balanced, thanks in part to oven-roasting some of the tomatoes before you toss them in. I used my immersion blender to break up the tomatoes and make it a creamier, thicker soup, but I left some of the roasted tomatoes intact. I ate it with a grilled cheese sandwich made in my jaffel iron, which is the only reason why there's any soup left over.

Roasted tomato soup
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put around 2 cups small tomatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Roast them for about 15 minutes, until the skins start to break open.

Mince 2 garlic cloves and dice a small onion. Sautee them in some olive oil in a saucepan until they get translucent. Add in the roasted tomatoes, 3 cups chicken broth, 28 oz diced tomatoes, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped. Bring the soup to a boil, then let it simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.

Blend the soup with an immersion blender and enjoy!

How to eat an entire chicken, day 2: Stock and soup

You remember Alexander, who went to sleep with gum in his mouth and now there's gum in his hair and when he got out of bed this morning he tripped on the skateboard and by mistake he dropped his sweater in the sink while the water was running? Well, I've been having a day just like that today. I even locked my keys in my office on my way out of work. Fortunately, today's recipe was already mostly done, and pretty easy to throw together.

I've been working on a chicken this week: rosemary chicken, chicken pot pie and chicken soup. Although I made them in that order--I roasted the chicken on Monday, made the pot pie on Tuesday and made the soup tonight--I'm going to tell you about the soup first, because you start making the stock the night you roast the chicken.

I just Googled chicken stock, to see what makes it different from broth. Apparently stock is made with the bony parts, and broth is made from the meat. This means the stock has a richer flavor. You could buy either for a soup, but if you're roasting a chicken it's really wasteful not to make your own. The first time I did this, I froze my stock as ice cubes. They live in a freezer bag, and I pull out a couple every time I want chicken stock. It's super convenient, and the stock is almost free to make. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't think it would be too attractive, but it makes your house smell incredible.

Chicken stock
After you've roasted your chicken, carve or pull all the meat off the bones, and save it for later. You're going to want as much of that meat as possible, and it isn't doing you any more favors by going in the stock, so get in there! Put the carcass, bones, innards (from the paper bag inside the carcass when you started) and skin in a pot or Crockpot. Add enough water to cover everything.

Add a whole carrot (peeled with the ends chopped off) and some celery. I like to use the leafy parts that otherwise get thrown out. Peel an onion and cut it in half, and toss that in too. Add a bay leaf and some herbs--maybe some sprigs of rosemary or thyme if you're feeling inspired.

Cook it on low for several hours--all day/night if possible. When it's ready and smells amazing, strain it and discard the vegetables and bones. Especially if you're going to freeze it, pour the stock into the narrowest container you can find and refrigerate it for several hours. The fat will rise to the top and you can skim it off (kind of satisfyingly gross). Freeze it in small portions, refrigerate it to use in all your recipes or make it into soup!

Chicken and rice soup
This is a totally variable recipe, so put in whatever you like in your chicken soup. Some people prefer noodles or potatoes to rice. You can also make it come together much faster if you precook the rice and the vegetables. In that case, just cook it on low for about half an hour or until you get hungry.

Chop 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks and any other veggies (onions, turnips?). Cut your leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces. (I had already made my pot pie by this point, so I had about a cup and a half of chicken.) Put the veggies and meat in a pot with your unbelievably delicious chicken stock, and pour in 1 cup rice. Feel free to toss in more herbs or some pepper; I felt my stock was plenty flavorful, but everyone has different tastes.

Cook on low for several hours, until the veggies are soft and the rice is cooked. I'm doing mine overnight so I can take it to work tomorrow in my Snow White thermos! It matches my Snow White lunchbox, circa 1995.