Day 17: Simple Lenten Lobster and Bow Tie Pasta Soup - Απλή Νηστίσιμη Σούπα με Αστακό και Ζυμαρικά Παπιγιόν - March 19, 2014

There are days when we don't have a lot of time to cook, nor do we have a lot of energy to make a meal.  And, we will sometimes throw something together quickly.  One of our "go to" foods for a nutritious and satisfying meal is to make a quick soup.  Today's recipe is incredibly fast and easy to do, even if you don't have a lot of ingredients, time, or energy.

A thin soup (that is, one that is not thickened) can be satisfying if it is flavourful and clean.  It can warm  you up on a cool day, or relax you when you have stress.  We like to keep a few bouillon choices on hand so that we can  create a broth that will satisfy any craving or any dietary restriction.  These bouillon bases are from the Ontario, California company Superior Touch. Our favourite products from this company are their flavour bases line Better than Bouillon.  We use the different flavours throughout the year to meet our dietary guidelines and, because we love the flavourful soups we create with these flavour bases.  With a quick and easy broth like this, you can add whatever you want to make a soup.

Today, we chose to use the lobster base for our soup.  It is made only from lobster, without the addition of any other animal product, nor any unidentifiable ingredients.  This is one of our favourites because it is rich in flavour, pairs well with almost any other ingredient, and gives us a beautiful colour in the end product. As with virtually all flavour bases or bouillon products, sodium (salt) is a prominent ingredient in several of the Superior Touch line, making them unsuitable for those with low-sodium dietary requirements.

To use this, all you have to do is dissolve some of the paste in a pot of boiling water.  If you were making a smaller quantity, like a cup of soup, then you would dissolve the spoonful in the cup of boiling water. This product does dissolve in hot or warm water, but it is fastest and easiest if the water is at a full boil (it dissolves within a minute).  And, because it is in a paste form, it does not leave a chalky residue at the end of the cup.

Once the Better than Bouillon Lobster Base is fully dissolved in the water and at the boiling point, add pasta to it.  We chose Misko bow tie pasta from Greece because it was sizeable enough to stand by itself int the soup and we love the texture of this pasta once cooked.  Had we chosen a smaller noodle, it may seem that we would need some vegetables or something else in the soup with the pasta.  The bow ties looked pretty, too.

Let this boil for 13-15 minutes to cook the pasta. The amount of time to cook this soup varies depending on your stove, the amount of pasta you are cooking, and the chewiness level you want the pasta to be cooked.  We chose to make the bow ties "al dente" instead of fully soft.

As a garnish, we sprinkled a couple of dried mint leaves which we grew last summer in our garden.

You can serve this soup with a sprinkling of parsley, mint, or oregano.  And, putting a little bread with it makes this soup an inexpensive, filling meal in under 25 minutes!

Source of image: http://orthodoxchurchquotes.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/st-gennadius.jpg

“Seek the simplest in all things, in food, clothing, without being ashamed of poverty. For a great part of the world lives in poverty. Do not say, “I am the son of a rich man. It is shameful for me to be in poverty.” Christ, your Heavenly Father, Who gave birth to you in the baptistery, is not in worldly riches. Rather he walked in poverty and had nowhere to lay His head. “

St. Gennadius of Constantinople, The Golden Chain, 24-25

Source of quote: http://orthodoxchurchquotes.com/category/sayings-from-saints-elders-and-fathers/st-gennadius-of-constantinople/