ITALIAN BORLOTTI, POTATOES AND MORE SOUP

Soup - Complete meal - Lactose free - Can be Gluten free and vegetarian (READ footnotes)

I was chatting with my great friend Renata, in Wisconsin, and the subject was... guess what... FOOD! She told me about a potato soup she like to prepare and she loves. I decided to try it, but I wanted something more in the soup, so I made it into a complete meal as you can read here below. Her original recipe will be in the footnotes!!

200 gr. potatoes (3 small - about 7oz)
1 jar Italian borlotti drained and rinsed
150 gr peas, frozen (about 1 cup)
3 big carrots, peeled and diced
220 gr small Italian pasta, like elbows (about 1/2 lb)
1 small onion
3 bacon slices, center cut
3 sage leaves
10-12 rosemary leaves
10-12 savory leaves
1 liter chicken stock, at least (about 4 cups)
Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian sea salt

Bring the stock to a boil.

Peel the potatoes, cook them in the stock and, when they are soft, remove with a slotted spoon. In the same pot, cook carrots and peas until desired softness, remove from the stock and keep the latter warm.

In the meantime, chop onion and the herbs together and cut bacon in thin strips. Press potatoes through a ricer and set aside.

In a large saucepan, warm 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the onion/herbs mixture and bacon; sautee until onion becomes translucent. Stir in the riced potatoes, borlotti beans, carrots and peas. Add a couple ladles of stock and let cook for a couple minutes, so all flavors combine.

Add pasta and more stock, enough to cover it by about 1/2". If your sauce thickens too much, add chicken stock a ladle at a time, like you would do with risotto; season with sea salt, if needed.

Constantly stir this soup, while pasta cooks, so it won't stick to the bottom.

Serve drizzled with a little Italian extra virgin olive oil.

This recipe serve 4

- Renata's actual recipe!! Chop onion, carrot and celery and sautee with bacon, add the potatoes, diced, salt (pay attention to bacon!!), rosemary and bay leaves; cover with chicken stock and cook until soft.
- If you want to make it gluten free, use Italian GF spaghetti (like the ones we carry) and break them in 1" long pieces. For a vegetarian version, avoid bacon and chicken stock.
- It's lactose free.