White bean and spinach orzo soup
Alright, I admit it. I’m the worst at eating vegetables. It hit me when we got married a few months ago, now that we’re the adults, we are the ones responsible for bringing greens into our own lives?! 😱
Luckily, a dish like this has so many vegetables that it would make my parents proud. And, it’s especially easy to make delicious, with fresh and healthy ingredients and some patient simmering. #adulting
My husband’s favorite part of soup day is the smell of sauteing onions and garlic, followed by about an hour of delicious wafting smells of vegetables, stock, and herbs through the house, and coming down a pot of soup boiling away happily. On this specific lazy Sunday, we decided to complement that with an episode of the Wire - our current show.
Here’s to hoping that you have a throw-in-the-pot, lazy soup day too!
What you need
olive oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2-3 carrots, peeled & sliced
2 small potatoes, peeled & diced
1 corn on the cob, taken off the cob (or a can of corn)
1 medium tomato, diced (or a can of diced tomatoes)
8 total cups of chicken or vegetable stock
I used 4 cups of homemade chicken stock and supplemented with Better than Bouillon & 4 cups of water
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 can (16 oz.) of cannellini or great northern beans
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
1 lb. of chicken thigh (optional)
1 cup parmesan cheese
Spices: salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, rosemary
parsley, for garnish
What to do
Prepare all your aromatics and vegetables - do the peeling, dicing, chopping, etc. up front.
I mixed my diced tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp Italian seasoning.
In a large dutch oven, heat up 2 tbsp olive oil.
To keep this dish vegetarian, skip ahead to Step 5. I had some chicken thighs in the freezer, so I decided to add some extra protein.
Add the chicken thighs to the dutch oven and sear on high heat. After 4 minutes, flip the chicken, and add 1 tbsp of flour, 1 tsp salt, & freshly ground pepper. Cook on the other side for another 4 minutes. A fond should start to set on the base of the pot.
Once the chicken is browned, remove the chicken thighs from the dutch oven, and set aside. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Add the diced onions and chopped garlic. Stir and sauté on medium-high heat until onions are translucent. (If keeping vegetarian and you skipped #3 and #4, add 1 tbsp of flour now.)
Add the sliced carrots, the diced potatoes, the stock, drained can of white beans, the diced tomatoes, the corn and rosemary. Stir and bring to a boil.
Lower to medium heat, add the chicken back into the soup, and pour in 1 cup of uncooked orzo. Cook for 5 minutes.
Then, add two handfuls of fresh spinach, 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of black pepper, and 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning. Cook for another 5 minutes. Stir well.
Garnish with parsley and serve hot with soup crackers!
