Chicken & Olive Meatballs in Consommé

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I’ve been accused of only posting decadent diet-busting recipes on my site.  Harsh…I know cream cheese streusel coffee cakes, pork-on-pork roasts, and nutella cream filling aren’t for everyday eating.  They’re treats.  Believe me, I’m eating plenty of really boring healthy meals between those posts.

Here’s a recipe that proves I’m not a total glutton and that simple, healthy foods can be blog-worthy.  It is a chicken consommé with baked chicken-olive meatballs and strands of Swiss chard.  Perfect; I’m calling it consommé so it sounds all French and elegant, it’ll be healthy because there’s a bunch of barely wilted chard in it, satisfying enough for dinner because there will be half a dozen meatballs bobbing around in each bowl.

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Crema di Ceci with Porcini & Pine Nuts

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I could have called it creamy chickpea soup or cream of garbanzo bean, but I didn’t want to scare you off by using a name that sounds like it belongs on a can of condensed soup or as if it relies heavily on cream.   No, I’m better off calling it by it’s Italian name- Crema di Ceci.  Say it with me- “chay-chee”.  Much better, right?  Now this simple soup has a bit of intrigue, sounds a little more exotic,  a lot more delicious.  Good enough to necessitate opening a bottle of red wine.  How many other bean soups can do that?

Sometimes it’s all in the branding and I want you to make this, after all.  And you have no reason not to!  In addition to being downright tasty, this soup is warming, nourishing, and healthy.  It’s vegan without even thinking about it, getting all its creaminess from the pureed legumes.  It is easy to make as long as you remember to get your beans soaking the night before (and have some nice vegetable stock on hand) but if you want to cheat and use canned chickpeas, your secret is safe with me.

This soup, like most pureed soups, is delicious as is but a little garnish is always welcome to provide a contrast of textures and flavors.  Since today we gave this soup a charmingly Italian name, we’ll go that route on the garnish by adding Porcini and Crimini mushrooms and a sprinkling of pine nuts.

Flavor still life…or natura morta, if you prefer.  Onions, herbs, mushrooms, garlic, pignoli.

Let’s get this soup underway.  Cook your beans.  You get an hour of downtime.  You could use this time to make vegetable stock or mix up a quick batch of foccacia.  Your soup would appreciate either gesture.

Like I said, there is nothing difficult about making this soup.  We’ll get some onions into the pot, let ’em sweat, let them get a little color.  Add garlic, a dab of tomato paste.

Toss in your cooked beans, cover with stock.  Let it bubble away for an hour.  Make yourself a cup of tea and relax; this soup doesn’t need a babysitter.

When the beans are super tender and creamy, you are ready to puree.  I used my new immersion blender to get the job done but you could toss it in the food processor and buzz ’til smooth.

 

 

 

 

 

Soup’s ready.  Now let’s garnish.

I wish I could get my hands on some fresh Porcini mushrooms, but they’re a little hard to come by in these parts and if I were to find them, I’m sure they would be prohibitively expensive.  Instead, we’ll soak some dried Porcini in hot water and make them do double time, sautéing them with the Crimini and adding their soaking liquid to the soup to make it even earthier and more aromatic.

Sauté sliced Crimini mushrooms and add the soaked Porcini.  Let them get in touch with their dark side.  Splash in a little Marsala, add a sprinkling of herbs.

Ladle up your soup, top with mushrooms, toss on pine nuts.  Bam.  Dinner.  Done.


Crema di Ceci with Porcini and Pine Nuts
 
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I've used mushrooms as a garnish in this recipe but you could customize this basic pureed chickpea soup with a sprinkling of spiced nuts,a dab of truffle butter, fried chickpeas, shaved Parmesan, crispy prosciutto, herb infused oil, garlic croutons...
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1½ c. Dried Chickpeas (Ceci Beans, Garbanzo Beans), soaked overnight
  • 4 T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
  • 2 small or 1 medium White Onion, diced
  • 3 cloves Garlic, minced
  • 1 T. Tomato Paste
  • 4 c. Vegetable Stock
  • Fresh Rosemary
  • Fresh Sage
  • Lemon Juice, to taste (optional)
  • ¼ c. Dried Porcini Mushrooms (reconstituted with boiling water, water reserved)
  • 1 c. Fresh Crimini (Baby Bella) Mushrooms, cut into thick slices
  • 1 clove Garlic, minced
  • 1 T. Dry Marsala
  • 1 T. Flat Leaf Parsley, minced
  • 2 T. Pine Nuts (pignoli), toasted
Instructions
  1. Drain and rinse soaked chickpeas. Place in medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a halved onion, sage leaves, and bay leaf for additional flavor, if desired. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Skim any foam that rises to the top. Cook beans about 1 hour, until tender. Remove from heat, remove onion, sage and bay leaves, season with salt. Do not drain.
  2. In a heavy bottomed pot, warm 3 T. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until golden. Add 3 cloves minced garlic and tomato paste, stir to coat onions and allow tomato paste to get a little darker.
  3. Add beans with cooking liquid and stock. Tuck in a couple sprigs of rosemary and a few sage leaves. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.
  4. Simmer soup 1 - 1½ hours until chickpeas are very tender and creamy. Remove from heat, remove rosemary and sage leaves, and allow to cool slightly before pureeing.
  5. Puree soup in pot using an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor or conventional blender.
  6. For the mushroom garnish, heat 1 T. olive oil in saute pan over medium-high heat. Add Crimini mushrooms, saute until they have released liquid and are dark brown. Add soaked Porcini mushrooms and garlic, season with salt. Add Marsala, allow mushrooms to absorb. Remove from heat, season with black pepper, some chopped rosemary and parsley.
  7. Meanwhile, reheat pureed soup, thinning with Porcini soaking water. Season with salt and pepper and add a squeeze of lemon juice if acidity is needed.
  8. Ladle soup into warmed bowls. Top with sauteed mushrooms and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.

Roasted Vegetable Stock + Easy Minestra

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I’m not going to get too preachy with this post because the fact is there are plenty of times when I do not follow my own advice.  I’m writing this as a reminder for myself as much as I am writing to share with you.

My message today?  Keep homemade stock on hand.

I just made this roasted vegetable stock and it was super easy.  I didn’t have to mess with bones or let it simmer for hours and hours and I was still able to walk away with a big batch of stock that is going to improve the flavor of all of my upcoming soups, stew, risottos, Thanksgiving stuffing, braises, and more.

I know, right?  We want those dishes to be the best they can be.  We better get started.  Raid your veggie drawer.  Carrots, celery, onion.  Aromatics, a little this, a little that.

Chop the vegetables and take them from raw and crunchy…

…to dark, shriveled, caramelized and intense.

Now we’re ready to make a rich vegetable stock.  Put it all together, add some water, boil, simmer.

Let it bubble away until the liquid is a delicious shade of brown.

Now you’re ready to strain and divide between freezer-safe containers. 

Hurray, we just made a whole bunch of upcoming meals better and it barely took any effort.  We should do this all the time.  We should celebrate with a quick bowl of minestra.

Minestra is the quickest, most comforting, homey bowl of soup you could ever want on a chilly day.  All you have to do is saute a little pestata (a vegetable paste that is used as the soup base), add a little tomato paste, simmer with broth.  Easy.  You could add some small pasta or beans and although I’m no linguist, I think your minestra would become a minestrone.

To make the pestata, all you have to do is throw some chopped veggies in a food processor and pulse until you have a thick paste.

 

 

 

 

 

Pack the pestasta into ice cube trays and freeze.  Between your pre-portioned pestata and all your wonderful stock, you can have a quick vegetable soup anytime you like.  Add some pasta or beans for a more substantial meal.

When you want soup just pop a pestata cube into a saucepan with a little olive oil and saute until it takes on color, add a squirt of tomato paste, and broth.

Simmer and you’re done.

Yum.

Roasted Vegetable Stock
 
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This easy vegetable stock is great for fall and winter soups, stews, and braises.
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Ingredients
  • 8 Carrots
  • 4 Celery Stalks
  • 4 Onions
  • 1 Leek
  • Other Vegetable Trimmings (I used some scrubbed squash peels)
  • 6 cloves Garlic
  • 1 bunch Parsley
  • 8 Sage Leaves
  • 4 sprigs Thyme
  • 6 Bay Leaves
  • ½ tsp. Whole Black Peppercorns
  • Salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400°.
  2. Wash and coarsely chop vegetables. Toss chopped vegetables and garlic with a little olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt and roast on a baking sheet until dark and caramelized, about 45 minutes. Stir a few times while roasting to prevent vegetables from sticking to pan.
  3. Place roasted vegetables in stock pot, add aromatics, 1 tsp. salt, and cover with cold water. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer 45 minutes or until the stock is deep brown and richly flavored.
  4. Strain stock. Season lightly with additional salt, if desired. Stock can be used immediately or frozen for future use.

Pestata + Easy Minestra
 
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This pestata can be portioned into ice cube trays and frozen for a quick bowl of minestra anytime. Each cube yields 1 portion of soup.
Author:
Ingredients
  • 2 Carrots
  • 2 Stalks of Celery (leaves included)
  • 2 Onions
  • 4 cloves Garlic
  • Parsley
  • Tomato Paste
  • Stock
  • Pasta (something small like Acini di Pepe or Ditilini), if desired
  • Beans (Cannellini, Garbanzo, etc), if desired
Instructions
  1. Coarsely chop vegetables and puree in food processor to create a thick paste (pestata).
  2. The pestata can be stored in the refrigerator or frozen in small portions.
  3. To make the minestra, heat some olive oil in a saucepan, add pestata, season with salt, and saute until golden. You may have to add a bit of water if your pestata is frozen. Add a little tomato paste and allow to caramelize briefly before adding broth. Simmer together, season with salt and pepper as needed. Add a small pasta or beans for a more substantial meal and top with grated Parmesan.