Lemon Chickpea Soup

Lemon Chickpea Soup… Perfect to warm your tummy!

This soup totally reminds me of Spring! It is cozy, healthy, and loaded with spring flavors like garlic, lemon, fresh dill and baby spinach. The orzo and chickpeas swirl to the surface with every spoonful. A sight that lifts the spirit and warms the belly.

This recipe is pretty straightforward and simple to make so enjoy!

1. Simply sauté the carrots, onion and minced garlic for 3-4 minutes to soften.
2. Add the broth, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper to the pot. Raise the heat to high, cover, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium.
3. Stir in the orzo, salt, and black pepper to taste and cook until orzo al dente. 
4. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off.
5. Whisk together the eggs, lemon juice and chopped fresh dill. 
6. Take two cups of the broth and whisk in with the eggs. Then slowly add mixture to the pot while whisking the soup. 
7. Turn the  heat back on to low heat and Stir in the cheese and baby spinach. 
8. Cook until spinach is wilted. 
9. Taste, salt and pepper as needed. 
10. Serve warm with a glass of Scout and Cellar DOVE HUNT DOG CHARDONNAY. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small white onion, peeled and diced
• 3 medium carrots, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup orzo
• 4 eggs
• Zest of one lemon
• ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 bay leaf
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 large handfuls fresh baby spinach
• 1–3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Add carrots and garlic and sauté for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the bay leaf and red pepper flakes and stir to combine.

Add broth and chickpeas, and stir to combine.  Continue cooking until the soup reaches a simmer.  Then reduce heat to medium (or medium-low), whatever works to maintain a steady low simmer.

Add orzo and stir to combine.  

Continue cooking until the orzo is al dente, stirring occasionally so that the orzo doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Meanwhile, as the orzo is cooking, whisk together the eggs, cheese and lemon juice in a separate mixing bowl or measuring cup until combined.  Ladle out 1 cup of the hot soup broth, and while whisking the egg mixture with one hand continuously, very very slowly drizzle the broth into the eggs until combined.  Repeat with 1 more cup of hot broth.

Once the orzo is ready to go, remove the stockpot from the heat.  Then while stirring the entire soup with one hand continuously, very very slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the soup until combined.  

The egg mixture should make the soup nice and creamy.  

(But if the eggs look like they are scrambling when you add them in — kind of like in egg drop soup — stop and let the soup cool down for a few minutes before adding the rest of the eggs.)

Return the soup to low heat.  

Stir in the spinach and dill and stir for 1-2 minutes until the spinach has wilted.  

Then taste and season the soup with a few pinches of salt and black pepper, as needed.

Serve warm, garnished with extra dill and lemon wedges.

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Lasagna Soup Remix

The ultimate comfort food in a bowl!

Who doesn’t love lasagna and a nice salad for dinner? Well how about that dinner but in soup form… that’s exactly what this soup is! I received my inspiration for this recipe from a Publix Apron’s recipe. It’s a quick and easy recipe with easily-found ingredients.

The broth of this soup consists of chicken broth and a jar of your favorite pasta sauce! I mean it doesn’t get much easier than a jar of pasta sauce. When my grandparents, Papa and Meme were not making their own homemade sauce, my Meme would have my Papa buy a jar of Ragu. I know, can you believe it… Ragu! Now, for me my go-to jar is Barilla. But this is your creation so you pick what your go-to sauce is. No judgement!

After browning the ground sausage, you start with “humble beginnings”. Have you ever heard of that? Maybe you have heard of Sofrito, Mirepoix, or the Holy Trinity of cooking. These are all the foundation of some of the world’s greatest dishes. It’s simply a group of vegetables sauteed together, disappearing into the dish as it cooks. But their flavors linger and would most definitely be missed if left out. In this soup, we make a “humble beginnings” of carrot, celery, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to start the soup. 

Most lasagna soup calls for lasagna noodles, you know the long thick noodles that are for a baked lasagna. Well I just don’t agree that those noodles should be in a soup, they end up taking up the whole bowl. So I used a package of Buitoni Three Cheese Tortellini, it usually can be found in the refrigerated section near the cheese. These little tortellinis are stuffed with creamy ricotta, aged Parmesan and Romano. You simply plop them into the soup and you have the noodle and all the delicious cheeses in one bite. 

Do not skip the salad kit’s toppings and dressing, trust me!. I used the Fresh Express Sweet Kale salad kit, it comes with broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, chicory, dried cranberries, roasted pumpkin seeds, poppyseed dressing. That’s 7 superfoods! The cranberries and the poppyseed dressing give the soup a sweet tangy twist, that cuts through the acid from the tomatoes, it’s a delicious combination!! But you can use any salad mix, a Cesar salad kit would be tasty too. If you buy a kit, it comes with everything which means you don’t have to buy a bunch of different ingredients. 

Lastly you plop a nice size dollop of Ricotta cheese into the bowl and you have yourself the perfect one-bowl meal!

Serve on a cold night with a crusty baguette, a glass of Scout and Cellar Fieldhouse Pinot Noir and you are set!

Ingredients

• 1lb mild ground Italian sausage
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning. 
• 3 cups or  24 ounce of your favorite  jar pasta sauce
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
• 1 (9 oz) package cheese ravioli
• 1 (12 oz) Fresh Express Sweet Kale salad kit
• 1 (12 oz.) low fat ricotta cheese

Instructions

Preheat a large stockpot 2–3 minutes on medium-high. 

Brown sausage 5–7 minutes, stirring to crumble meat, until no pink remains.

Remove sausage and drain pot. 

Add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pot.  

Saute the veggies for about 4 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low. 

Stir in pasta sauce, broth, and pesto; simmer 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until hot.

Stir ravioli into soup; cook 4–5 minutes or until ravioli is tender 

Add sausage back to the pot and simmer for one hour. 

Meanwhile, mix the salad kit together, expect the dressing. I personally like to drizzle the dressing over the soup but again totally up to you. This is your creation!

Divide soup evenly among bowls. 

Top each bowl with even amounts salad greens and salad toppings, 

Drizzle the dressing over the top. 

Place a dollop about a tablespoon of ricotta cheese on top and serve.