3 more days.
Despite the balmy 58 degrees in Cleveland on Dec. 22, it’s feeling more like Christmas. Yesterday was filled with holiday parties. The parties kicked off with a cooking baking party at my house in the afternoon, then after a quick bite of homemade pizza, we headed to the neighborhood caroling party last night. We cut out early (around 9pm) to go to Cindy and Tom’s and meet my brother who had just flown in from San Fran. Then my parents and arrived and we “partied” (chatted, ate cookies and had a beer) until almost 11. Anna was so excited to see Uncle Kevee.
One dinner I made this week was from Giada’s Holiday Family dinner special on Food Network. I was watching the special while working out in my parent’s basement this weekend and thought this soup would be the perfect healthy, veggie filled, meal for the holiday week. With 231 reviews and 5 stars, I knew it would be as good as it looked on tv.
I stuck to the recipe pretty closely but skipped the pancetta. I am sure it added a lot of flavor, so I don’t recommend doing that, but the soup was still delicious without it!
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 garlic, minced
- 1 pound swiss chard, stems trimmed, leaves coarsely chopped
- 1 large russet potato, peeled, cubed
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes (NO sodium) with juice
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig
- 2 (15-ounce) cans of white beans (cannelini with no sodium) drained, rinsed well
- 2 (14-ounce) cans low-sodium veggie or beef broth
- 1 ounce piece Parmesan cheese rind
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper
Directions from her recipe:
- Heat the oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.
- Add the Swiss chard and potato; saute for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and rosemary sprig. Simmer until the chard is wilted and the tomatoes break down, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, blend 1 cup of the beans with 1/3 cup of the broth in a processor until almost smooth.
- Add the pureed bean mixture, remaining broth, and Parmesan cheese rind to the vegetable mixture.
- Simmer until the potato pieces are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the whole beans and parsley.
- Simmer until the beans are heated through and the soup is thick, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Discard Parmesan rind and rosemary sprig (the leaves will have fallen off of the stem.)
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
The soup tasted much more rich than it was because of the parmesan rind and the pureed bean mixture. These both added flavor and dimension without adding lots of fat.
Happy Almost Christmas!
This looks perfect! THanks for the recipe 🙂
Hi Al! I loved this soup! Thanks again for a great cookie-baking day/ lunch together! (P.S. I love the last picture posted here ;)))))
xoxo