As I write this post, we have just arrived back from sunny Florida. We were down there for my good friend Crissy’s wedding, she happens to be the very reason why Blair and I are married. She was our matchmaker! It was at a beautiful venue called Cross Creek Ranch and I just loved all of the details. The bride was beautiful, the groom looked dapper, and it was a wonderful time by all. I couldn’t help share some of my favorite shots from the weekend. The lighting for the cupcake photo was absolutely perfect so of course I had to take advantage. I am still getting the hang of people shots, but was really happy how these came out.
When we arrived back on Monday night, we were enjoying temperatures in the high 70's in Florida. We came back to rain and a temperature of 30 degrees on Monday night. We didn’t have this soup, but if we had gotten home a bit earlier, I would have definitely whipped this up. It is warm and comforting, and it makes the absolute perfect match to grilled cheese. Since the warmer temperatures don’t seem to be in our near future, you may want to make a batch of this to keep you nice and cozy!
Tomato Florentine Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tbs unsalted butter
3 (14.5 oz) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained and juice reserved
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs packed brown sugar
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
3 garlic cloves, minced
4-5 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
4 oz (1 cup) small macaroni, ditalini, or tubettini
10 oz (10 cups) fresh baby spinach
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepperMelt the butter in a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot set over medium-high heat. Once it has melted, add the tomatoes and onion, and cook until the tomatoes are dry and the onion is soft and translucent, about 10-12 minutes. The tomatoes may start to brown which is fine.
To the tomatoes and onions, add the tomato paste, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, flour, a teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about one minute. To the tomato mixture, slowly whisk in the broth and reserved tomato juice, make sure to scrape up any browned bits and smoothing out lumps that are remaining.
Add in the pasta and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until pasta is tender, 10 to 12 minutes, making sure to stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Add in the spinach, stir to combine, and cook until wilted, 1to 2 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Source: The America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook via Pink Parsley