Pots & Pans – Soup in Summertime/Italian Pasta & Bean

On By TimelessladyIn Pots and Pans

Even though it’s summertime, when the air conditioner cools the house to Autumn-like temperatures, I will get a hankering for soup. This was the case last night. I found a recipe for ‘Italian Pasta & Bean Soup’ tucked away in a stash of recipes. I have dozens upon dozens of these clipped out recipes in various places in my home. Every now and then I will pull one out and give it a try. I changed the recipe up a bit when the jar of chicken stock I was planning to use lost it’s bottom. (Don’t ask…a bit of broth leaked out, but it could’ve been much worse.) I had to choose between running to the store or making a broth of my own without any chicken thawed out. I decided to use some scraps of onion I had in the freezer, and a few stalks of fresh celery and carrots. I threw in a bouillon cube and ‘Voila,” I had a broth.

You can find the Woman’s Day recipe here: Woman’s Day Italian Pasta & Bean Soup

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Here’s a photograph of mine and the changes I made to the recipe.

6 Cups of cold water
Onion, Celery and Carrot Scraps
1 -2 Beef or Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1 1/2 Cups Bowtie Pasta
1 15 oz can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
1 14.5 can diced tomatoes (I used Hunt’s Basil, Garlic & Oregano)
Several leaves of fresh parsley chopped/you can use a bit of dried if you don’t have fresh
Salt and Pepper to taste

Bring water and vegetable scraps to a boil. Simmer for about a 1/2 – 1 hour. Strain away all solids and discard. Add a bouillon cube/cubes to broth.
Bring broth to a boil once more, add bowtie pasta and simmer at medium until cooked al dente, about 8 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and parsley. Heat through for about two minutes and serve. I sprinkled my soup with packaged grated 4 cheese pizza cheese. It was so delicious, I added a bit more cheese halfway through my meal.

QUICK TIP – The Woman’s Day recipe calls for cooking onion and garlic to add to the soup. I was able to skip that step by adding tomatoes flavored with herbs. This soup was light and had a bright flavor. Next time I might add a squeeze of lemon for an even brighter tasting broth.

14 thoughts on “Pots & Pans – Soup in Summertime/Italian Pasta & Bean”

        1. Yes, we have turned on the air on…I prefer natural air circulating in the house, but oh my…when it is very hot it feels good to come into a cool house. How are your temperatures? I am well…hope you are too. 🙂

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    1. I’m with you…I loved this one because is was fast and easy. If I had used prepared chicken broth, as I had hoped, the time would have been under a half hour. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers. They look even more delicious than the first time.

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