Chickpea, Tomato, and Orzo Soup with Basil Pesto

A hearty one pot chickpea, tomato, and orzo soup topped with dollops of basil pesto. Full of fresh flavor!

Have I got something warm and cozy for you today!!

And it’s like twenty degrees here today…so yeah, we need it.

This started off as a play on ribollita, which is an Italian tomato-based soup that gets thickened by slices of toasted bread. While that sounds (and tastes) wonderful on day one, it turns into a soggy, mushy mess on day two.

I’m a firm believer that soup should only get better with age (within reason, of course), so I abandoned that thickening strategy pretty quickly and decided instead to turn it into a one pot pasta soup! The beauty of this is that as the pasta cooks it absorbs some of the soup’s liquid while also releasing a bit of its starch to make the soup broth thick and creamy – multi-tasking at its most delicious.

This soup is full of simple, fresh flavors – carrots, onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs. It is one of those meals that tastes like a warm hug – total, pure comfort.

It gets topped off with dollops of basil pesto for a touch of brightness and sunshine…the promise that warmer weather will someday be here again.

Chickpea, Tomato, and Orzo Soup with Basil Pesto

 

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A hearty one pot chickpea, tomato, and orzo soup topped with dollops of basil pesto. Full of fresh flavor!

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into half moon slices
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tbsp chopped oregano
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp sugar
• 4½ cups vegetable broth
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup dried orzo
• 2½ cups cooked chickpeas
• 4 tbsp basil pesto
• shredded basil leaves, to serve

Instructions

1. Heat 3 tbsp of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Add the onions to the pan and saute for 4 minutes on medium heat. Add in the carrots and cook for another 4 minutes to soften the vegetables. Stir in the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add in the wine and let it simmer for 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the canned tomatoes, herbs, sugar, broth, and salt and black pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Add the orzo to the pot and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and crush them a little bit with a potato masher so that some are squished but some are left whole. Pour into the soup and simmer for another 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
4. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with a dollop of pesto on top, along with finely shredded basil.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi Plenty

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