Zuppa alla Pizzaiola (Pizza Soup)

For a cookbook style copy of the recipe for Zuppa alla Pizzaiola, click HERE!

I’m not sure what made me think of using pizza as an inspiration for a delicious soup, but whatever it is, I’m glad for it. And if you try Zuppa alla Pizzaiola (Pizza Soup), I think you will be too.

Should anyone think we’re just tossing a pizza into a blender at high speed, have no fear. Zuppa alla Pizzaiola is a full-bodied tomato soup, seasoned in the style of pizza sauce, and filled with finely chopped sausage, mushrooms and green pepper, or whatever other “toppings” you like. It’s topped with pizza crust croutons and melted pizza cheese (think French Onion Soup), with more of the sausage, mushrooms and green pepper on top. It’s one hearty meal.

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin.

• The recipe gives step by step instructions for making the pizza crust croutons from scratch. If you prefer to use a store bought dough, that’s ok too.

• Speaking of pizza dough, this recipe makes about one-and-a-half crusts. You’ll only need the half for the croutons; store the remainder for later use in making a fresh pizza. Why are we making more than we need? Simple: this amount uses one packet of yeast; making less would mean dividing the packet into a part you’ll use and a part that will end up getting thrown away because it’s not enough to make anything. I’d rather see it get used for something.

• The “toppings” in this recipe (which are used both to fill the soup and to top the cheese) are sausage, mushrooms and green pepper. There’s no real reason for those particular toppings, except they're what I like on a pizza. Feel free to substitute whatever toppings you like. (Ok, almost whatever toppings you like: even if you’re from California, I’m begging you not to do that pineapple thing.)

 This recipe makes four meal-size servings.

First, let’s make the pizza crust for the croutons. (If you’re using a purchased dough, just skip this step.)

In a small bowl, whisk one packet of yeast (1/4 ounce) into 2 cups of 110-degree water. Add ½ teaspoon of sugar, then whisk in ¼ cup of olive oil.

Combine 1-1/2 pounds of bread flour and 1 tablespoon of salt in a large bowl and mix well. Add the yeast mixture and mix just until sticky dough forms. (It's important to mix the dry ingredients before adding the yeast mixture; direct contact with the salt will kill the yeast.)

In a mixer (using the dough hook) or by hand on a floured surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. If necessary, add a little more flour to make dough smooth and elastic.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with oiled foil or plastic. Allow to rise on the kitchen counter until at least doubled, about an hour. (When doubled, the dough should hold the indentation when poked with a finger.)

Begin preheating the oven to 500 degrees.

When the dough has risen, cut it into a 1/3 portion and a 2/3 portion. Wrap the 2/3 portion to freeze or refrigerate for later use in making a pizza. Place the 1/3 portion on a baking sheet that has been dusted with corn meal.

Stretch the dough out until it is about ¼” thick.

Bake for 11 minutes, turning the pan around in the oven half-way for more even baking.

Now let’s make the pizza crust into croutons. (If you’re using a purchased dough, this is the step you’ll start with.)

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Brush the crust lightly with olive oil on both sides and cut into crouton cubes, ¼” to ½“on a side. Place the cubes on a baking sheet.

Bake for about an hour until the croutons are crisp. Set them aside till ready to use.

Next comes the soup:

Chop 1 large carrot, 2 stalks of celery, 1 medium onion, and 4 cloves of garlic.

Heat ¼ cup of butter substitute and ¼ cup of olive oil in a soup pot on medium-low heat until the butter substitute is melted.

Add the carrot, celery, onion and garlic, along with 1 bay leaf. Cover and cook for about five minutes. (Don’t let onions color.)

Add two 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, three cups of tomato puree, 2 teaspoons of dried basil, 1-1/2 tablespoons of sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of chili powder. Mix until combined, and simmer covered for 30 – 40 minutes. Stir occasionally, until tomatoes and onions are soft and broken down. (While the soup is simmering, prepare the toppings as described below.)

To make the toppings:

Finely chop 1 green bell pepper, 12 ounces of turkey sausage (with the casings removed), and 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms. Place in a sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sauté until cooked.

To finish the soup:

Begin preheating the oven to 450 degrees.

Remove the bay leaf, and puree the mixture with an immersion blender.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix the toppings into the soup, reserving 6 Tbsp of the toppings.

Place the soup in a bowl, and top with croutons.

Cover the croutons with cheese.

Sprinkle 1-1/2 tablespoons of the toppings on top of the cheese.

When all the soup bowls have been prepared, bake for a few minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve hot.

For a cookbook style copy of the recipe for Zuppa alla Pizzaiola, click HERE!

Serve this with a salad on the side, and you’ve got a meal your family will love. (A bag Caesar salad, as seen in the photo at the top, works fine. You’ve just made fresh soup; give yourself a break on the salad.)

I hope you enjoy making, and eating, Zuppa alla Pizzaiola. And that you’ll stop by again next week for another great-tasting home-cook tested recipe! Till then, stay well, keep  it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

One-Pan Carrot Soup

When I tasted the hearty One-Pan Carrot Soup my wife made a while back, I knew the next time she made it I’d have to post the recipe here to share with the world.

As with practically any of her cooking, my responsibilities for posting the carrot soup are mainly following her around with a camera for photos and a clip-board and pen for putting the method into words. (My wife is a great instinctual cook who rarely uses recipes, particularly when making soup.) One of the hardest parts is documenting the quantities of ingredients, since she’s not big on measuring. For example, the recipe below includes what I’m calling 3 tablespoons of dried dill, which is actually my translation of what she called, “two palms full.” (My version does consider a correction factor for petite palms.)

Aside from faithfully documenting the process, my only contributions to this recipe were the grated parmesan topping and the beer batter rolls on the side.

(If you like this soup, you can check out another of her nothing-written-down recipes for Creamy Broccoli Soup.)

And now, here it is, One-Pan Carrot Soup, for your cooking and eating pleasure. This recipe makes four meal-size servings.

Put 1/8” water and 1 Tbsp butter substitute in a large skillet. Heat until the butter substitute melts.

Add 2-1/2 pounds of peeled whole carrots to the skillet and cover. Simmer until the water has evaporated to steam the carrots.

When the carrots are steamed and some are slightly caramelized, take them out of the skillet and set them aside.

In the same skillet, add 2 – 3 Tbsp olive oil, 2 rough-chopped onions and 3 rough-chopped stalks of celery. Cook uncovered until the onions are translucent.

Pushing the onions and celery to one side of the pan, put 2-3 Tbsp butter substitute and 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour on the other side. Mix the butter substitute and flour to form a roux. When it has cooked for about 1 minute, combine the roux with the onions and celery and add 1 cup of skim milk. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened.

Add the carrots to the skillet and mash them with a potato masher. (It’s ok if some of the carrots remain chunky; the mixture will eventually be pureed.)

Add 3 Tbsp dried dill, 6 regular or 3 large bouillon cubes, and 4 cups of water. (The bouillon cubes should be enough to require 6 cups of water normally; this recipe only uses less water because of the other liquid ingredients involved.)

Cook the mixture until it just starts to boil, then turn off the heat and puree with an immersion blender.

The texture should be a thick liquid with some small chunks.

Serve the soup in bowls with some good bread and topped with fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Click HERE to download a cookbook-style copy of the recipe in .pdf format

Hope you enjoy this easy, delicious (and low-fat!) soup! And that you’ll visit again next week for another tasty recipe. Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Lasagna-Inspired Double-Stuffed Manicotti

I recently received an e-mail from loyal reader Judy asking if I had a good recipe for manicotti. Having no manicotti recipe, good or otherwise, got me thinking it was time to put one together.

For some reason, this also started me thinking about lasagna, and thus evolved this week’s recipe: Lasagna-Inspired Double-Stuffed Manicotti. The idea is simple: prepare manicotti pasta that’s a bit longer than normal. After you place your cheese filling and roll the pasta around it, spread seasoned meat filling over the remaining portion of the pasta, and continue to roll that around the cheese filled part. This creates a double-rolled manicotti with cheese in the inner roll and seasoned meat in the outer roll. Top it with sauce and some mozzarella, bake, and the result is simply delizioso!

Some Cook’s Notes before we begin.

• The recipe uses hand-rolled pasta from scratch. Don’t be put off; it’s actually pretty easy. (I also used a wood rolling pin on a wood cutting board to roll the dough, which gives the finished pasta a slightly rougher texture than you'd get using a pasta machine; that roughness really holds the sauce.) Many people use store-bought manicotti shells, store-bought lasagna strips, or crepes made from a thinner pasta batter for their manicotti. Because this recipe has the pasta being rolled over twice, store-bought manicotti shells just won’t work. Either of the other two ways should be fine if you decide not to make your own pasta dough.

• The meat filling is an easy home-made turkey sausage made from plain ground turkey and a spice combination from a wonderful Italian Sausage recipe published by Michelle Gambel on allrecipes.com. (If you'd like to check it out – and I recommend you do - here’s the link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-sweet-italian-sausage-mild-or-hot/)

• For the sauce, you can either use a good store-bought one or make your own, using your favorite recipe or, if you like, the easy no-cook sauce featured here a while back (http://kissthecook-ben.blogspot.com/2011/02/easy-no-cook-tomato-sauce.html).

This recipe makes 8 large manicotti. That translates to 8 normal human portions, or 4 big-eater portions.

First, let’s make the pasta:

In a large bowl combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon dried parsley.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Put 1 teaspoon of olive oil and 3 egg-substitute eggs into the well and whisk the wet ingredients together.

After the wet ingredients are mixed, gradually stir in the flour mixture until a dough forms.

Knead for about five minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let rest while you prepare the remaining items, but not less than 20 minutes.

To roast the red peppers:

Place the peppers directly on the stove burner. Give them as much flame as you can without having the flame touch the pepper. As each side blackens, use tongs to turn the pepper till all sides are blackened. When the peppers have blackened on all sides, wrap them in foil and let them steam themselves until cool enough to handle, about 20 – 30 minutes.

Once the peppers are cool enough to handle, use your fingers to remove the blackened outside skins. Dice the peppers and set aside.

To make the meat filling:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, combine 1-1/2 pounds of ground turkey and the following: 1-1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar; ½ tablespoon salt; ½ tablespoon fresh ground black pepper; 2 teaspoons dried parsley; ½ tablespoon garlic powder; ½ tablespoon onion powder; ½ tablespoon dried basil; 1 teaspoon paprika; 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (for medium-hot sausage; more or less to taste); 1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed; a pinch of brown sugar; a pinch of dried oregano; and a pinch of dried thyme.

Put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Add two cloves of chopped garlic and 1 medium diced onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add the turkey mixture and cook until it is browned.

Add 6 ounces of tomato paste and roasted red peppers for about the last minute of cooking.

To make the cheese filling:

In a bowl, add 2 cups of ricotta cheese and 2 egg-substitute eggs, and mix till combined. Add 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried basil, and 1-1/2 cups of grated parmesan.

To prepare the manicotti:

Lightly brush a 13” x 9” baking dish with olive oil, and spread just enough marinara sauce inside to cover the bottom, about ½ cup.

Cut the pasta dough into eight pieces. Repeat the steps below for each of the pieces. (Keep unused dough wrapped in the plastic to prevent drying out.)

• On a well-floured surface, roll on piece a rectangle about 1/16” and as close to 6”x 9” as you can manage. (The dimensions won’t be exact and it won’t be a perfect rectangle; it’s ok.)

• About 2” from one of the short edges, put about ¼ cup of the cheese mixture.

• Fold the 2” piece over the cheese, and roll slightly to enclose it completely, leaving a little more than half of the pasta piece still unrolled.

• Put some of the meat mixture (1/3 – ½ cup) on the unrolled portion of the pasta, enough to cover it while leaving some uncovered pasta at the far end.

• Carefully roll the cheese-filled portion over it until it is enclosed by the meat-filled portion.

• Repeat the above steps for all the pasta pieces, placing each in the baking pan as they are finished.

When all the rolled pasta pieces are in the baking dish, cover with 2 cups of marinara sauce and 8 ounces of grated mozzarella cheese.

Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Remove the manicotti from the oven, sprinkle the top with dried parsley, and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Add a nice dry Italian red wine and you’ve got yourself a fresh-made meal that everyone will love. Buon appétito!

For a cookbook-style copy of the recipe in .pdf format, just click here! 

Please visit again next week for another home-made recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)