The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant
Asparagus and Rice Soup with Pancetta and Black Pepper
Page 166
Cuisine: North American | Course Type: Soups and Stews
View photos (1)Tags: soups asparagus pancetta
Recipe Reviews
Queezle_Sister from Salt Lake City, UT
Very nice soup, especially considering how easily it went together. I agree with all the other comments!
sturlington from Hillsborough, NC
This was a great soup, amenable to tweaking. I liked how hearty it was, but required only a few ingredients. Instead of pancetta, I used pepper bacon, which seemed to satisfy the requirement for lots of pepper. I also used orzo instead of rice, which I really liked.
(edited 9th October 2012) (0) comment (2) useful
southerncooker from Boomer, NC
I found some great looking asparagus and decided to try this recipe. With such few ingredients I didn't think this soup would be so flavorful. Perfect on this snowy cold day.
It says to add lots of black pepper at the end and I agree this makes the soup wonderful.
Since I had some Arborio rice on hand and it was one of the suggested rices to use I used that. It gave it a nice nutty flavor. The pancetta also adds tremendous flavor.
aj12754 from Montclair, NJ
Zuni Cafe Cookbook is in my top five cookbooks to read. But I have not in fact cooked from it very often although I couldn't say why. But then...
Turns out I had bought too much asparagus for a Jaime Oliver asparagus soup and thus had an extra bunch on hand. I wasn't really looking to make another soup but I pulled the Zuni Cafe cookbook off the shelf just to read and opened the page to an asparagus, rice and pancetta soup.
This was a really nice change of pace as asparagus soups go ... not pureed but with a lovely mix of textures. First you sweat onions then add 1/4 c. arborio rice and chick broth and simmer for @ 20 min. Meanwhile cut asparagus on an angle in 1/8 in. rounds and saute with some minced pancetta. Then add to broth, boil one minute and serve. Don't forget to finish with a nice grind of pepper.
The flavor was light and delicious. But what we really liked was the contrast in the textures within the soup, the broth almost silky because of the rice, and the slight crunch of the asparagus. It was nice -- and pretty quick for a light weeknight meal. I made Goat Cheese, Chive and Lemon Turnovers from FC to go with -- they weren't so pretty to look at (my fault not the recipe) and I had a bit of a heavy hand with the lemon zest but still ... tasty.
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