ITALIAN ORZO SPINACH SOUP
My daughter and her husband love this soup so have it a couple of times a month. As usual, their dog Basil supervised and volunteered as the food taster.
She uses a recipe from Gimme Some Oven and modifies it based on ingredients she has on hand. Following my lead, she also leaves out the oil.
Orzo is a small rice-shaped pasta. Here are some videos about how various pastas get their shape from Behind Every Day.
Is it safe to use fire roasted tomatoes? Here is a nice article by Dr. Simon Cotton at the University of Birmingham that addresses this question: Does burnt food give you cancer?
My daughter used kale instead of spinach since it’s what she had on hand. This time she was also out of onion and celery so added extra carrots and a dash of onion powder.
Italian Orzo Spinach Soup
Ingredients
1 small white onion, peeled and diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
6 cups vegetable stock
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes (My daughter uses plain diced tomatoes.)
1 1/2 cups (about 8 ounces) whole wheat orzo pasta, or other whole wheat pasta (My daughter reduces orzo to about a cup because when uses 1 1/2 cups it comes out more like a pasta dish rather than soup.)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
4 cups loosely-packed spinach
salt and black pepper to taste
optional toppings: vegan Parmesan cheese, crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
Dry saute onion in a medium stock pot over medium-high heat until soft. Add a splash of water if the onion starts to stick.
Add carrots, celery and garlic and saute for an additional several minutes. Add a splash of water if the vegetables start to stick.
Add vegetable stock, tomatoes, orzo (pasta), thyme, oregano, rosemary and stir to combine. Bring soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente.
Stir in the spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes until it is bright green and wilted.
Taste. Season with salt and black pepper and add more spices if you’d like.
Serve warm, garnished with your desired toppings.
