An absolute must try going into this fall season! It's cozy and comforting. Perfect for date night or any night tbh. This recipe is inspired by bolognese sauce as well as tomato soup and is I guess just a weird yummy in between.
I obviously cannot call this a traditional Italian dish. It started with me wanting to make a bolognese twist on tomato soup (hence the onion, celery, carrot) so I did that but it was missing something. Day 2 I decided to add pasta and cream and WOW. As you can imagine it got a lot better. I think this is best served as a full bowl of soup topped with a 1/2 portion of pasta. If you add too much pasta then its really just pasta with tomato sauce instead of soup with pasta in it.
This recipe does not have meat, where a traditional bolognese sauce definitely does. So in that sense I sided with tomato soup.
I have a traditional bolognese recipe here - I call it drunken bolognese because it involves a lot of wine (yay!) - traditional bolognese is a thick pasta sauce made with meat, cream, tomato & veggies.
Time: about an hour
Servings: 2 big bowls of soup or 4 side bowls
You'll need
1 serving of tagliatelle pasta
6 roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
6 oz cauliflower
1 small yellow onion
2 large carrots
2 large celery stalks
3-4 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
red wine
white wine
1 tablespoon fresh basil or basil pesto
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
olive oil
salt & pepper
red pepper flakes
Italian seasoning
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
Cut the tomatoes in half (length wise), cut the bell pepper like you would cut an apple so the core is removed, cut the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Now add all of these (tomato, red bell pepper, cauliflower) to your baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Place the baking sheet in the oven and roast the veggies for 25 minutes.
While the sheet pan of veggies is roasting, dice your onion, celery, and carrots into small pieces (1/4 inch or less) - this will help them cook down faster.
This is also a good time to cook pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add in your uncooked pasta and cook according to package timing. I like to leave mine al dente. Save a cup of pasta water and then drain your pasta. Mix in a tablespoon of butter or olive oil and keep it covered while you cook the rest.
When the sheet pan has 5 minutes left, begin heating your dutch oven over medium low heat.
When the veggies have finished roasting for 25 minutes, flip them and then roast for another 25 minutes. As soon as you're done putting them back in the oven its time to begin cooking the rest!
Add your diced onion, celery, and carrot to your dutch oven or soup pot with a drizzle of oil, salt & pepper to taste, a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and a teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Cook on slightly lower than medium heat. Stir occasionally. Every 5 minutes or when it starts sticking, you'll want to add either a splash of broth or a splash of wine. I recommend starting with a simple red (cabernet) or an Italian red that you know you like, after a couple of rounds of wine then switch to adding chicken broth - but this is one of those follow your heart moments! You want to add a splash or about 1/3 cup - enough to get all the veggies unstuck or deglazed while they're picking up flavor and cooking down. In the last 5 minutes, add a tablespoon of tomato paste and the garlic. Mix it in! The veggies won't completely break down but this should be almost like a thick paste.
After 25 minutes, remove the oven veggies and transfer them to a blender - add a cup of broth & blend on medium until it looks soupy and homogenous.
Pour the blended veggies into the dutch oven and mix everything together. Add basil, cream, and honey and stir it in. Add the cup of reserved pasta water and a 1/2 cup of broth. Bring it to a simmer and let it simmer for 10 minutes, covered. Taste a spoonful and add more salt/ pepper to taste.
Split the soup into bowls and then top with pasta! Serve with fresh parmesan, red pepper flakes & fresh basil!
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