Aunt Peg's Chowder

Aunt Peg's Chowder

I found this recipe at www.allrecipes.com and I quickly fell in love with it. I made it my own recipe by changing a few of the things, so the recipe mentioned below is my version. Feel free to visit the site and type in 'Aunt Peg's Chowder' if you want to see another version!

What I love: the broth is clear, and the vegetables are unique for a soup: garbanzo beans and zucchini are veggies that I have never used in a soup before! I also love that the broth is partly made of wine, and I love wine! Paul loved this soup so much, he kept talking about it many days after the meal. This soup fed us for two days (keep in mind, it's just me and my husband, but my husband eats LOTS of food!)
The recipe:

• Olive oil
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, with liquid
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with liquid, chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
• 3/4 cup dry white wine...pinot grigio works best
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried basil (or more...eyeball it)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheese or mozzarella
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• Sour cream (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and saute onion until tender and lightly browned.
2. In a large soup pot, mix onion, zucchini, garbanzo beans with liquid, tomatoes with liquid, wine, butter, garlic, basil, and bay leaf.
3. Cover, and simmer for 20-ish minutes. Uncover, stir, and continue 20 minutes.
4. Stir heavy cream and Romano cheese into the vegetable mixture, and continue cooking 10 minutes.
5. Pour into bowls. Top with shredded cheese and a dallop or two of sour cream (optional) 
6. Serve with french bread

**If you want it even healthier, instead of heavy cream, used half and half.
**I have an obsession with tomatoes, so I add plenty of them. If you don't care for them, leave out the can of diced tomatoes. As you add the veggies to the pot, think about what ratio of veggies you like to see! I like to see lots of red. :)
**Depending on your preference, use either mozzarella or sharp cheddar. I like to use sharp cheddar to give this soup a bit of zing. But it has a delightful, milder taste if you add mozzarella.
**Do NOT add the cheese to the soup while it is cooking! It becomes a rubbery mess (been there, done that...learn from my mistake!)
**Depending on your calorie intake or desires, you can add less than 1 cup of heavy cream. The original recipe called for 1/2 a cup, but I found it wasn't enough to satisfy me. Use your judgement on the color of the soup to decide how much to add!
**I found that eating this soup with the leftover wine as a beverage makes this a more romantic dinner. Just a suggestion, of course!