White Bean, Kale, and Pancetta Soup

 

White Bean, Kale, and Pancetta Soup 

I have made this once before, and it was at my mom's new house in Oakland. I was cooking for a few of her friends, too, so there was somewhat of an expectation to be met. The only problem was, my mom not only had no furniture in her house, but she barely had the bare bone cooking utensils. I even had to buy olive oil to bring to her house for this recipe. Atrocious! 

Anyways, my mom keeps begging me to make the braised short ribs I posted a while ago, but those have to cook for a really long time, and she most definitely did NOT have the tools to cook that. So, Riley and I figured making a soup would be fairly simple, and quite filling. I had this delicious pack of pancetta cubes from Boccalone Salumeria from the Ferry Building, so I used that instead of bacon, which the original recipe calls for. I originally found this recipe in a Food Network Magazine, but found it here.

In college, my roommate Tara and I hosted a clothing swap for our closest girlfriends. We had about 12 girls come over with bags of clothes that they didn't wear anymore, in hopes that they would swap one of their unwanted items for someone else's unwanted item. I made a meat lasagna and a vegetarian lasagna back in college, and this year, my roommate Alyx and I wanted to cook again, but we decided to make something different. 

I doubled this recipe to cook for some ladies, but this is just the single recipe.

Ingredients:

1 package cubed pancetta (can be found in many grocery stores, and Trader Joes)

1 small onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup grated parmesan, plus 1 small piece rind (optional)

1 1/2 cups small pasta, such as ditalini (about 8 ounces)

1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup kale, chopped

Directions: 

1. Put the pancetta in a large pot over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside

2. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, tomato paste, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper and cook until the carrots begin to soften, about 2 minutes

3. Add the chicken broth, 6 cups water and the parmesan rind. Increase the heat to high; cover and bring to a boil

4. Add the pasta and beans and cook, uncovered, 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and add the kale. Simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, about 7 minutes.

5. Remove the Parmesan rind, stir in half of the grated cheese and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and top with the remaining cheese.