Buongiorno, Giada!

Week one of cooking with Giada De Laurentiis is here. Oh, at last at last! I'm so glad we're cooking Italian, and so happy to be working with a female, but oh Giada... what can I say?

Yup, I think that about covers it. 

I'll try really hard not to thrust my feelings for Giada upon all of you for the next six months, I swear. It'll be difficult, what with the plethora of fabulous posts offered up by the folks at Food Network Humor ( who are, by the way, my heroes of snark). I warn you though, if you truly heart Giada, don't even go there. It'll make you want to hurt someone with your perfectly manicured nails. Or go zest a lemon.

All jesting aside, I do own a copy of Giada's Kitchen: New Italian Favorites. I had yet to flip through it until this week. Since our theme for IHCC is Welcome Foods, I focused on the appetizers section. Couldn't figure out what to make. See, I'm refusing to shop this week. I limited myself to the stuff in my pantry and fridge for this recipe, so I had to keep flipping. I found just the perfect thing.

Hearty Tomato Soup with Lemon and Rosemary

Ingredients:

2 Tbls. unsalted butter
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 oz.) can of cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
1 (28 oz.) can of crushed tomatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary
1.4 tsp. red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2/3 c. heavy cream
 and (wait for it!) the zest of 1 lemon

Preparation:
In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add onion, carrot, and garlic and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth, beans, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and half of rosemary. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook covered for 30 minutes.
Puree in batches in a food processor or blender (be careful not to fill it more than halfway, since hot liquid expands and will explode all over you and your kitchen, just FYI :)). Return to pot to keep warm and season with salt and pepper ( I doubled the salt and pepper here, it needed it!).
(Now I skipped this part since I didn't have any heavy cream, but you can use a dab of sour cream instead!) Whip cream until soft peaks form. Fold in lemon zest and rosemary. Ladle soup into bowls and top with cream.

Print the Recipe


Just so ya know, this soup was very good. It was healthy, hearty, and comforting, a great lunch with a side of Italian bread for dipping. And there are a bunch of other recipes that look lovely in the book. Maybe I'm a Giada lover for real deep down inside my cold, black heart. I'll need to go buy some pale pink OPI polish.

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