Recipe for Domenica Marchetti's Soup

About 90% of the time I just make up my own recipes. I go to the store, find what ingredients look appealing, see what I have in my pantry and make things up as I go. Most of the time I'm quite successful.

Other times, I just want someone to hand me a recipe, go to the store to get all the necessary ingredients, follow the directions and make a dish as the recipe's author has intended it to be.

This past weekend I decided to look through Domenica Marchetti's The Glorious Pasta of Italy book and choose a recipe.

Ok, I lie. I actually already had a recipe in mind: Minestra di Pasta e Piselli. It's a pasta soup with peas and pancetta. What's not to like? 

The weather was slightly cooler and it kept on raining on and off: a perfect day for soup.

I changed a few measurements, so I'll just write the recipe/directions as I made the soup.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 thick slice of pancetta***
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup diced onion
5-6 sprigs thyme
ground black pepper
64 ounces chicken broth
1 1/2 cups ditalini pasta (or use any small pasta)
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1/2 cups mixed cheeses: Asiago, Parmesan, Romano {next time I'll use Domenica's advice of only adding Parmesan, because my combination of cheeses did not melt quite well}

***Special thank you to Philly Homegrown for a lovely care package: I used pancetta from North South Canning Company & Meatery.

Directions
1. Heat butter and oil in a heavy soup pot: I used my 5.5 quart Le Creuset.
2. Add pancetta, onions and carrots and saute for 5 minutes.
3. Add thyme sprigs and black ground pepper and continue to saute for 5 more minutes.
4. Add chicken broth, bring to a boil. Add pasta and peas and cook till pasta is al dente.
5. Remove the soup from the heat. Take out thyme sprigs: all the leaves would have fallen into the soup by this point. Stir in the cheese.
6. Serve in warm soup bowls.

I garnished my soup with a bit of cheese. {Check out my new spoon: only $2!!}

The soup was incredibly flavorful, filling and almost buttery. It's a great one pot meal all in itself. Just keep in mind that it's not a great soup to freeze and that pasta will definitely expand as it sits in the hot liquid and when you put the soup in the refrigerator.

Also, the original recipe did not call for carrots, but I think they added a nice extra color and sweetness to the soup.