Pain de Mie

 31 August 2022

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 90. 

I had not tried this recipe for sandwich bread from the book, Bread Illustrated, because it requires a special Pullman loaf pan that I did not have. The Pullman loaf pan has a cover which produces square loaves of bread without the rounded top that we are accustomed to with a standard loaf pan. When a recent issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine included another recipe that used a Pullman loaf pan, a recipe that seems similar to my regular white sandwich bread recipe (Japanese milk bread), I decided it was time to purchase a Pullman loaf pan and try these recipes.

Other than the covered pan, making pain de mie is similar to other recipes for white bread. AP flour, yeast, and salt were whisked in the bowl of a stand mixer. Milk, water, melted butter, and honey were whisked in a measuring cup. Using a dough hook on the mixer, the liquid ingredients were slowly added to the flour mixture then kneaded for about 8 minutes. The dough was placed in a large measuring cup to rise until doubled in volume.  The risen dough was patted into a 12x10-inch rectangle and rolled into a log. The seam was pinched shut and the log was placed in the Pullman pan. The lid was placed on the pan and closed, leaving a 2-inch opening, and the dough left to rise to the lip of the pan. Then, closing the lid completely, the bread was baked in a 350° oven, removing the cover about halfway through baking.

In addition to providing square slices of bread, the Pullman pan is supposed to lead to a crumb with a finer texture and a more tender crust than you would get in an open loaf pan. This recipe made a perfectly acceptable sandwich bread. The crumb had larger holes in the center than I expected. I think this is partly because I didn't roll it tight enough.  However, the photos in the cookbook also had a more open crumb that I expected so perhaps the structure is inherent to the recipe. I do like the square shape. With a regular loaf pan you can get some rather odd shaped bread slices, with this pan slices are uniformly square.

Sous Vide Pulled Pork

 22 August 2022

Recipe from Sous Vide for Everybody, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, p.86.  Recipe also available online.

I like pulled pork sandwiches and have written about them in this blog several times. I have made them using my gas grill as a smoker then finishing roasting the meat indoors in the oven. I have made used a slow cooker to prepare the pork indoors. Now, a third method: sous vide where the pork, sealed in an air-tight bag, is cooked "sous vide" in a constant temperature water bath. 

I purchased a 2½-pound boneless pork butt roast. This was about half the size of what was called for in the recipe so I adjusted the other ingredients accordingly. A spice mixture was made by combining vegetable oil, salt, sugar, pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl and heating this in the microwave until "bubbling and fragrant". I saw no bubbles as the mixture was too dry, but it was fragrant. Yellow mustard and liquid smoke were added to the warm spice mixture and these bubbled. The pork was placed in a vacuum bag and the spice mixture was spread over the meat using a spatula. Air was removed from the bag and it was placed in an immersion circulator (a device that maintains a constant temperature water bath) set to 165°. The prep took 30 minutes up to the time the pork was placed in the water. After 20+ hours the now-tender pork was removed and shredded using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer. Unfortunately the vacuum bag leaked during the cooking period and some water diluted the spices. Nonetheless, cooking liquid was defatted and some of it was mixed with bottled barbecue sauce. It took 15 minutes to prepare the pork after removing it from the sous vide machine.

This was the easiest, quickest method I have used to make pulled pork!  The end product is as tender and as tasty as pork made any other way that I have tried it. Much of the flavor comes from the sauce and in this instance I took a short cut by using my favorite bottled sauce, enhancing its flavor with the cooking liquid. The final sauce was a little thin due to the leak in the vacuum bag but this was a minor issue.

Italian Meatloaf

 20 June 2022

Recipe from Cook's Country, February 2020

Meatloaf is comfort food. But this meatloaf recipe is different from any other I've tried. The introduction to the recipe describes it as a recipe for meatballs and marinara sauce, but the meat is shaped and cooked as a loaf. We like meat balls and marinara so it stands to reason that a meatloaf made with the same ingredients would be good, too.

The sauce was made by first cooking sliced garlic in olive oil. Canned tomato sauce, canned crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and salt were added and the mixture was simmered for about 5 minutes then set aside. For the meatloaf, a panade was made using crushed saltine crackers, milk, and eggs. This was seasoned with garlic powder, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Ground beef, mild Italian sausage, and grated Parmesan cheese were mixed into the panade by hand. The mixture was transferred to an oiled 13x9-inch baking dish and shaped into a 9x5-inch loaf. The sauce was poured over the meat loaf, the pan was covered tightly with aluminum foil, and baked for an hour. Grated gruyere cheese (the recipe specified fontina) was sprinkled on the loaf and placed under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese. It was sliced and served after a 15-minute rest with some defatted sauce on the side. Total preparation time was about 2½ hours.

The meatloaf was straightforward to make, much like other meatloafs. The sauce was also easy to make so it didn't add too much additional work. The substitution of gruyere for fontina worked out okay. The Italian meatloaf was okay to eat, too, having a good tender texture and a lot of flavor. It worked well as a leftover and froze well, too. However, I don't anticipate making it again. Meatloaf is comfort food hearkening to meatloafs from our childhood. This version is just too different from those in our memories to be comforting.

One Batch Fried Chicken

 4 June 2022

Recipe from Cook's Country, June 2018

This review suffers from the distance between eating the food and writing about it. Fried chicken makes a good dinner and it is also good to have as a leftover for lunches. However, deep frying is a hassle so I am always up to try a recipe that avoids all of the oil that deep frying entails. This recipe was inspired by the fried chicken recipe developed by Colonel Sanders.

I started with close to 5 pounds of chicken ... I don't remember but I probably bought a whole chicken rather than parts. The published recipe is for just 3 pounds of chicken. The bone-in, skin-on chicken parts were placed in a brine made with buttermilk and salt for about 90 minutes, in the refrigerator. A coating was made with flour, white pepper, celery salt, garlic powder, ground ginger, Italian seasoning, baking powder, and salt. A small amount of buttermilk was added to this mixture to form craggy bits. The chicken pieces were coated with this mixture, placed on a wire rack set inside a baking sheet, and refrigerated for just over an hour. Vegetable oil was added to a Dutch oven to a depth of 1 inch and heated to 350°. All of the chicken pieces were added to the pot then covered for 10 minutes. The cover was removed and the chicken pieces were flipped over and cooked until they reached 160° for white meat and 175° for dark meat. Total time, including all of the hands-off time, was 3½ hours. 

The chicken was good though we found the coating to be a little tough and uneven. I can't compare it to KFC since I haven't eaten there in many years. The Dutch oven was just big enough for this large batch of chicken though the oil did boil over a little. The temperature of the oil never recovered to the desired 300° but that didn't seem to have a big affect on the result. Some of these minor issues are related to the amount of chicken that I cooked.

Southwestern Layered Beef Casserole

 19 May 2022

Recipe from Cook's Country, April 2014

This review suffers from the distance between eating the food and writing about it. I don't remember how I discovered this recipe. I suspect I was tempted by it because I don't have many recipes like this and so I was happy to find it and to give it a try.

Rice was cooked in oil on the stovetop until it was deep golden brown. It was transferred to an 8x8 baking dish and canned tomatoes, with their juice, chicken broth, salt, and pepper were added. The skillet used to cook the rice was wiped clean and used to cook around beef with onion, bell pepper, salt, and pepper. Minced garlic, chili powder, cumin, and coriander were stirred into the beef and cooked until fragrant. Tomato sauce was added and cooked until slightly thickened. The beef mixture was spread over the rice. Pinto beans, shredded Monterey Jack cheese,  and corn were layered in the baking dish which was covered tightly with foil and baked for about an hour. The dish was garnished with thinly sliced green onions (should have been scallions) and served after a brief cooling period. Total time was about 2 hours. 

As I recall this was a good dish, though not great. It provided 4-5 meals for the two of us and kept well and was easy to reheat. Having forgotten the beans when assembling the casserole I added them to the top. I substituted canned diced tomatoes for the spicy, for us, Ro-Tel tomatoes in the recipe. This was a good decision as the casserole was spicy but not too spicy, with Ro-Tel it would have been too spicy for us.

Simple Fried Rice

 6 May 2022

Recipe from March 2022 Cook's Illustrated

I've enjoyed fried rice many times in restaurants. I've made a pretty-good version myself at home on numerous occasions, but never using a recipe. Having a recipe could lead to more consistent results and provide some lessons about how to prepare this dish. There's one sure way to find out.

I used the "for two" version of the recipe which provided enough food for one dinner for two plus leftover lunch for one. The recipe recommends day-old rice, so one day in advance I cooked 1 cup of Jasmine rice in 1½ cups of water and refrigerated it. This provided more rice than needed in the recipe. Two eggs were beaten in a bowl with a little salt and set aside. A teaspoon of oil was heated over medium high heat in a stainless steel skillet. The eggs were added and cooked until there was no liquid left, about one minute, then set aside on a plate. The heat was reduced to medium and diced carrot and some salt were added and cooked until they just started to turn brown. Ham pieces (approximately ½-inch cut from two slices of a small ham which was a little more than the recipe specified) were added and cooked until heated through.  The carrot/ham mixture was transferred to the plate with the eggs. Oil and scallion whites were added and cooked for about a minute then rice was added, spread into an even layer, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The rice was stirred and cooked until the grains were separate and heated through. Frozen peas, the egg mixture, ham, carrots, and scallion greens were added and cooked until the peas were cooked through. Total time was about 35 minutes.

We enjoyed this fried rice though it was a little salty. It had nice puffy eggs, crunch from the carrots, smoke and salt from the ham, and aromatic flavors from the rice and scallions. It was quick to make so good for a weeknight dinner. The magazine article lists other combinations of ingredients that the author enjoys. I liked how the eggs came out, light and fluffy due to the short time cooking in very hot oil. I should have used a nonstick skillet as there was some sticking to the pan. 

Roasted Chicken Wings

 30 April 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2022

While fried chicken wings have been very popular for some time, we have never jumped onto that particular culinary bandwagon. I've been tempted to eat at one of the chain restaurants that specialize in wings but have yet to give in to the temptation. I've had homemade Buffalo wings but I found them to be too spicy for my taste. When Cook's Illustrated published an recipe for wings that didn't require frying, promising wings with all of the good characteristics of wings from a roast chicken, I knew it was time to give them a try.

I purchased four pounds of party wings from Whole Foods. I didn't know what "party wings" meant, but soon surmised that the wings had been cut into drumettes and flats and the wing tips had been omitted, saving some work cutting up whole wings. The chicken was patted dry with paper towels then tossed with vegetable oil, salt, and pepper. The drumettes and flats were arranged on a parchment-lined baking sheet as described in the recipe. A sheet of parchment paper and a second baking sheet were pressed on top of the chicken. They were roasted in a 400° oven for 45 minutes. Juices were poured off the of the chicken, defatted, and heated to reduce the volume to ⅓ of a cup; very little reduction was needed. The top baking sheet and parchment were removed from the chicken which was then placed under the broiler until golden brown and then glazed with the reduced juices. Total time was 85 minutes.

We enjoyed the chicken wings, they came out juicy and tender though we thought the skin could have been crisper. We enjoyed them more with sauce than plain, barbecue and Ranch being our choices. They were easy to make with very few ingredients and the "party wings" eliminated most of the prep work. We had them for several dinners. I suspect we won't make them again as there are chicken dishes that we enjoyed more than the wings, but maybe we'll try takeout from a wing joint.

Easy Orange Glazed Chicken

 7 April 2022

Recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook, 2012, p. 153. 

This was a serendipitous choice for dinner. I was looking for a chicken cutlet recipe, something with a nice crisp exterior and a tasty sauce such as chicken Parmesan chicken cacciatore. While flipping through the Quick Family Cookbook looking for a recipe I happened to spy a recipe for an orange glazed chicken. While it was not quite what I was looking for it sounded good so I decided to make it.

I purchased four chicken cutlets weighing a total of a little more than a pound. The recipe called for about twice this much chicken but I did not halve the amount of sauce. The chicken was browned in a 12-inch skillet until lightly browned. It was then flipped over and a mixture of orange juice, mustard, and apricot preserves was added and simmered for eight minutes. A slurry of corn starch and orange juice was added as a thickener and simmering continued until the chicken registered 160° and the sauce had slightly thickened. Total time was 25 minutes.

This chicken dish was easy to make and good to eat. The chicken was a little overdone, perhaps because it was made with cutlets instead of whole breasts. The sauce was a little thin and had some oil floating on top but was otherwise good. It was well balanced, neither too orangey nor too mustardy nor too apricoty. 

As a side dish we had mashed butternut squash. I used a recipe/method from How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman, 1998, p. 613. The squash was steamed then pureed in a food processor. This procedure led to a very smooth puree, well flavored with butter, salt, and pepper and better than any I've made before.

Chicken Teriyaki

 10 February 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, November 2021, recipe also available online.

While I have had meals in Japanese restaurants that I enjoyed, in general I am not fond of Japanese cuisine. One of the few things that I have made myself is Chicken Teriyaki, generally using a grill to cook the chicken. Seeing a recipe in Cook's Illustrated for this dish thus got my attention. It seemed simple enough to make, didn't require exotic ingredients, and I decided to try it.

Because you can't buy boneless, skin-on chicken thighs, four bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1.6 pounds) were carefully deboned, trimmed, then cut into 1½-inch pieces, being careful to preserve the skin. These were combined with some sake and cornstarch and set aside. Soy sauce, sugar, and sake were combined in a small bowl and heated in the microwave to dissolve the sugar. About 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger (much less than specified in the recipe) was placed in a fine mesh strainer and pressed to extract the juice into the soy mixture. The chicken was cooked in a skillet over medium-high heat, first skin-side down, then flipped over to finish cooking. After removing the chicken, the skillet was wiped clean with paper towels. The chicken was returned to the clean skillet, the soy mixture was added, and this was cooked for several minutes to thicken the glaze. Total preparation time was one hour.

The chicken was exceptionally tender and juicy. The nicely browned pieces of chicken, which seemed to promise some nice crispy skin, did not live up to this probably due to the final cooking with the sauce. I used much less ginger than in the recipe as we have had some overly spicy ginger dishes. The ingredient list is short and it only took an hour to prepare. Sake was the only ingredient that we didn't have and I was able to buy a small, 300 ml bottle. This dish is worth having again and with more ginger.

Apple-Blackberry Betty

 2 February 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, September 2021; also available online

There are many rustic fruit desserts with interesting names. There are cobblers and sonkers and buckles, crisps and crumbles, grunts and slumps, pandowdies and betties. These vary primarily in the topping that is placed on, and sometimes under, the fruit. The recipe in this recent issue of Cook's Illustrated provided inspiration to try an apple betty. It promised to be easy to make but would it be good to eat?

Half a loaf of white sandwich bread (about 10 ounces, I used Japanese Milk Bread) was cut into 1-inch pieces and pulsed in a food processor until coarsely ground. Brown sugar and salt were added and pulsed to combine. Melted butter was added and this was also pulsed to combine. 2½ cups of the bread mixture were pressed into the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan. Sliced apples (Golden Delicious and Granny Smith) were combined with vanilla extract, water, nutmeg, and brown sugar and placed on top of the bread mixture in the baking dish. Blackberries were sprinkled over the apples and covered with the remaining bread mixture. This was covered with aluminum foil and baked until the apples were tender. The foil was removed and the betty was baked until the bread crumbs were crisp and well browned. Total preparation time was 45 minutes followed by 85 minutes in the oven.

We were not fans of this dish. While it was easy to make, the combination of fruit and bread just didn't appeal to us. The topping and the seasonings did not accentuate the apples which should be the star of the dish. Even if you have leftover bread to use up, I can think of better ways to use it.

Pan-seared thick-cut pork chops

 26 January 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2022

A few months ago I tried a new technique for pan-seared beef steak. It turned out to be a game-changer and is now my go-to method for cooking steak. As a result we have steak much more often than before. Here the same technique has been applied to pork chops. Will it have the same effect for pork as it did for beef?

The recipe is for a 1½-inch thick "rib chop" and I was not sure if I would be able to find these. But, lo and behold, in the butcher case at Whole Foods were 1½-inch thick pork chops. They were labelled "loin chops" but I believe they are the same as "rib chops". The chop was seasoned with salt and rested in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. It was then placed in a cold, non-stick skillet. The burner was turned to high, the chop was cooked for 2 minutes then flipped over. After another 2 minutes the heat was reduced to medium. The pork chop was cooked and flipped every 2 minutes until reaching an internal temperature of 140° F.  Total cooking time was 15 minutes followed by a 5 minute rest before serving. 

The pork chop turned out very well indeed. It was well seared and cooked evenly from top to bottom. Despite what seemed like a lot of salt, 1½ teaspoons, it was nicely seasoned. Fortunately I was checking the temperate after each flip because it went from 120° to 150° in just 2 minutes. We only ate half of the 1-pound chop. When having it the second time it was heated in a 130° water batch sous vide which worked well though a lot of liquid was lost and the chop was a little dry. 

This is a cooking method worth using again. Instead of using a high setting for the first two flips it might be better, with our stove, to use a setting of 8 as there was some smoke generated and some scorching of the pork chop, though not so much to affect the flavor. The recipe suggests resting the chops after salting for 1 to 24 hours and this is worth trying as the meat was a little chewy with the 30-minutes rest that I afforded it this time.

Sous Vide Boston Baked Beans

 5 January 2022

Recipe from Sous Vide for Everybody, America's Test Kitchen, 2018, p. 170.  Recipe also available online.

In the book I used for this recipe the title is "Boston not-baked beans". Sous vide is used most commonly to cook meat. The constant temperature water bath gives great control over how done the meat is. Unlike cooking in the oven or stove top you can't overcook a steak or a roast when you cook them in a constant temperature water bath. It will be interesting to see how this works with baked beans.

The cooking process takes several days, but very little of that is hands on. A pound of dried small white beans was soaked in a brine at room temperature for 24 hours. (The recipe specifies dried navy beans, but neither of the two supermarkets that I checked had them.) While the hot water bath heated to 194° the beans were drained and rinsed to remove excess salt. Water, molasses, dark brown sugar, soy sauce, dry mustard, and black pepper were whisked together in a bowl. Salt pork, cut into ½-inch pieces, was rendered in a Dutch oven. A diced onion was added and cooked until soft. The molasses mixture was added and brought to a simmer. Baking soda was added and cooked until the foaming subsided. The beans were put into a vacuum bag, which allowed the bag to stand on its own. The molasses mixture was carefully poured in, a bay leaf added, the bag was sealed and the air was pumped out. This was placed in the 194° hot water bath for 21 hours. To finish, the bean mixture was poured into a Dutch oven and cooked for about 10 minutes to thicken the sauce. Total time was about 45 hours, but the hands-on time was about 1 hour.

If you are a fan of Boston baked beans this is a good way to prepare them. The beans were tender and firm, they were not mushy and were intact. Cooking them sous vide was much simpler to do than baking them for a lengthy stint in the oven with much easier clean up. I don't bake beans very often but when I do this is likely to be the method I would use.

Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie

 5 January 2022

Recipe from The Perfect Pie, America's Test Kitchen, 2019, p. 262. Recipe also available online.

I first learned of this recipe from the same episode of Cook's Country where I learned about Amish Cinnamon Bread.  It was only later that I looked in The Perfect Pie and saw that the recipe is available  there. It is apple season, a little late perhaps, but close enough to be making apple pie and this one had some interesting features: a streusel topping in place of a top crust and melted vanilla ice cream as an ingredient. It was an intriguing combination and it looked delicious, too.

The pie has three main components: crust, filling, and topping. Making the crust was the first step. I used the recipe for an all-butter crust, having had good luck with it before. The filling was made while the pie dough rested in the refrigerator. I used Golden Delicious apples which were peeled, cored, and sliced. These were combined in a large bowl with melted vanilla ice cream, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and salt. This sat, at room temperature, for several hours. The topping was made by combining AP flour, light brown sugar, melted butter, and salt. The topping was stored in the refrigerator.

After the dough was well chilled it was rolled into a 12-inch circle and placed in a 9-inch pie plate. The rolled out dough rested for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. The pie was assembled by placing the filling into the pie plate, a handful at a time pressing each handful firmly into the pie plate. The liquid remaining in the bowl was poured over the filling. The streusel was scattered over the top and the pie was baked in a 350° oven. After it was down it cooled overnight before being ready to slice and eat. Except for the final cooling it took almost 5 hours to make the pie, though much of that time was hands off as the pie dough rested for long periods in the refrigerator.

This is a good pie. The crunchy streusel topping complemented the nicely balanced filling very well. The only complaint is a soggy bottom crust, presumably from all of the liquid that comes from the apples, not to mention the melted ice cream, that is added to the filling before baking. The pie slices nicely and the filling stayed together very well. I think this pie is worth making again but perhaps it should be baked on the bottom rack of the oven to better bake the bottom crust. It might also be worth trying a tarter apple such as a Granny Smith.

Greek Chicken

 13 December 2021

Recipe from Cook's Country, February 2019

I learned about this recipe from an episode of the Cook's Country TV show. It looked good with a lot of fresh herbs and lemon. But would it live up to the TV show accolades? And how would it be when  reheated as a leftover, an important factor when cooking for just two people.

A 4½-pound chicken was broken down into 2 split breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, and 2 wings. Slashes were made in all but the wings so the marinade would get past the surface of the bird. A no-cook marinade was made by mixing olive oil, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, garlic, lemon zest, salt, oregano, coriander, pepper flakes (as usual, I halved the recipe amount), and pepper. This was mixed in a bowl with the chicken pieces and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The chicken pieces were then placed, skin side up, in a skillet and the marinade remaining in the bowl was poured over the chicken. The chicken was roasted in a 425° oven until the breasts reached 160° and the thighs and drumsticks 175°. (One breast was underdone so it was set aside to finish cooking when reheated as a leftover.) The skillet was removed from the oven, the pan juices were spooned over the chicken, which was then returned to the oven but now with the broiler on. After a few minutes the skin was browned and the chicken removed. Total time with 30 minutes marinating was just over 2 hours.

We both enjoyed this chicken. The dominant flavor for us was lemon which was good with chicken. There was nothing difficult about the preparation and it provided us with many meals. I used a hot water batch, sous vide, to reheat so as not to overcook the chicken and dry it out. As a leftover, however, it was nothing special, just roast chicken. The flavors you would expect from all of the herbs and spices just didn't come through in the leftovers.

Weeknight chicken noodle soup

 19 November 2021

Recipe from All Time Best Soups, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 15.

Winter is soup season and here is another comforting recipe I tried for us to enjoy during our cooler months. I have previously made another chicken noodle soup from this same cookbook, one that take a little over two hours to prepare. This recipe was designed to be faster to make, but would it still be good soup?

Bay leaves and fresh thyme leaves in chicken broth were brought to a boil in the microwave then set aside. Boneless skinless chicken breasts were browned in a Dutch oven and set aside to cool. In the fat left in the Dutch oven, onion was cooked until lightly browned. The broth mixture was added followed by carrots, celery, and the browned chicken. This was covered and simmered gently until the chicken reached 160°. The chicken was removed from the broth and, after cooling, was shredded into bite-sized pieces. Noodles were stirred into the soup and simmered until just tender. Off heat, the bay leaves were removed and the chicken was added with minced fresh parsley. Total time was one hour.

This is a good chicken noodle soup, especially considering the relatively small effort that went into making it. Without doing a side-by-side tasting I am not prepared to say which is better, but I suspect it is the soup that took two hours to make. This soup has a small amount of broth compared to the amount of vegetables, meat, and noodles. The broth has a good flavor but it is not particularly complex. Nonetheless this is good soup especially on a cold day.

Pasta and Peas

 10 November 2021

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, May 2021

I'm always open to trying a new homemade soup recipe. This recipe, a version of the Italian pasta e piselli, is a combination of ingredients that we enjoy and it looked like it could be made quickly, so it was worth a try. This humble dish is similar to pasta e ceci (pasta and chickpeas) and pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans).

Onion, pancetta, salt, and pepper were cooked in hot olive oil in a large sauce pan until the onion was softened. Chicken broth and water were added and brought to a boil. Tubetti pasta was added and cooked until al dente. Frozen peas were stirred in off heat followed by Pecorino Romano cheese, fresh parsley, and fresh mint. I used spearmint as it was the only mint that was available at the supermarket. Total time to prepare the soup was 50 minutes.

This is a nice, simple soup, easy and quick to make. There is a nice contrast between the chewy pasta and fresh green peas. The recipe called for just the right amount of mint so you get a hint of it that did not overpower the other flavors. However, there is a lot of leftover fresh mint that I didn't have any use for. The soup might have benefitted from a little more cheese and a little more meat.