soup

i was feeling sort of wintery-blah-ish when i left work last night and decided that the only thing that would snap me out of my post-home-season funk would be to make some soup.

real soup. the kind where you throw a bunch of random ingredients into a pot and watch them swirl and gurgle together, forming a brew of delicious goodness.

i made a quick stop at wegmans [you down-staters can keep your whole foods...wegmans is by far the most sublime grocery store in existence] to pick up some green swiss chard, some beans, some lentils and some grana padano cheese. i also bought a loaf of fresh italian bread that did not make it home unscathed [i am completely incapable of buying fresh bread and not eating it in the car on the way home. i have a problem.]

once home, i got out my never-been-used, cast-iron, martha stewart dutch oven [there's something about making a really good dish in a brand new cooking vessel that makes me happy], heated up some olive oil and tossed in some garlic and some diced onion to brown. added my swiss chard, some [store-bought] vegetable and beef broths, the lentils and one can each of kidney, garbanzo and cannellini beans. added more broth. tossed in some acini di pepe pasta. seasoned with plenty of salt and red and black pepper. let it simmer for a total of about one hour, until the beans were tender, the lentils were plump and the pasta was cooked. served it up, topped it with the cheese, cut myself a hunk of bread and went to town.

i could eat that soup everyday. seriously. every. day. why would i ever buy canned or boxed soup again? WHY?! it's so good! and so easy! and so good!

make this soup. make it. please. i promise you won't regret it.