Conchiglie Bolognese Soup in Bread Bowls
Soup season is here! I have made soup every single night this past week, and Tad finally said to me last night, “We’re having soup again?! Come on!!!” So it might be time to move onto something else for dinner…
I can’t help it! The chill in the air and snow falling outside makes me crave a big bowl of warm, comforting soup and thick slice of sourdough bread. I have been making variations of this soup for years now, at least six or seven years, and it is my all time favorite to make.
I have a difficult time describing what kind of soup this is because I cannot seem to find a commonality between traditional soup recipes and this one. In the end, it mostly resembles a lasagna soup, which I am not sure if that is technically in a more professional soup category. I am not a classically trained cook, so I just kind of throw things together and hope that they turn out well!
This soup tastes like your favorite pasta bolognese in a soup. I love the delicious tomato base flavored with oregano, thyme, parsley, and fresh basil. As I said above, I have made so many variations of this soup. I really loved how this one turned out recently with mushrooms, ground beef, and pasta shells. I was not sure how the ground beef would do as I usually make it with Italian sausage. It’s actually really yummy! If you love lasagna or spaghetti bolognese, then you will love this soup!
making bread bowls:
These bread bowls are made with my Super Easy Italian Bread recipe. This is a foolproof recipe for beginners, so it is a worth a try if you have never tried making bread before! This particular bread recipe takes only 2 hours to make from start to finish, which is pretty fast for a yeast bread.
To shape this bread into bread bowls, simply divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Then stretch and fold the dough under itself, shaping it into a ball, and pinching the seam closed. Let them puff and then bake as usual!
Super Easy Italian Bread Bowls
Ingredients
- 3 cups warm water
- 2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar or honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- In a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let it sit for about 5-8 minutes or until the yeast has bloomed or grown and bubbled.
- Whisk in the olive oil and salt.
- Begin to the slowly incorporate the flour, 1 cup at a time, until a dough forms. It will first be soupy and then turn into a shaggy dough. It is ready when the dough is smooth, elastic, and no longer clings to the sides of the bowl. It will still be sticky to touch, but it should not clump and cling to your fingers when handling it.
- Knead the dough into a large ball and place it into a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- When the dough has risen, gently deflate it with your hands. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces with a sharp knife or a bench scraper. Shape each piece into a ball by stretching the folding the dough under itself, pinching the seam closed, and turning it on the counter to make it spherical.
- Place the bread bowls on 2 greased baking sheets and cover with damp kitchen towels or plastic wrap. Let them puff until nearly doubled, about 30 more minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375° F. In a small dish, whisk up the egg.
- Brush the bread bowls all over the egg wash. Bake them in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until they are deep golden brown and baked through. You can check this by gently tapping on the bread with the tips of your fingers or fingernails. It will sound hollow.
- Let the bread sit for at least 20 minutes before cutting into.
- To make them into bread bowls, cut out a circle of dough from the center of the bowl and pull it out. Hollow out any extra bread filling, but be careful not to pull out too much or the sides will be too thin. Fill with soup and serve!
the method:
This soup is one of the easiest that you can make. It is a perfect recipe for a beginner, especially if you are learning to cook from scratch! This does use pre-packaged pasta, but that can easily be altered to your own homemade pasta recipe.
Begin with some butter and mushrooms. Mushrooms cooked in hot fat will soak up all of the butter when they first hit the pan. Don’t worry; in minutes they begin releasing their own juices and then they are ready to continue cooking with other ingredients like onions. Allow the mushrooms space in the pan and time to cook down before adding in the next ingredients.
This soup has a lovely thickness to it, though it does not use flour as a thickener and only a tiny bit of cream. Rather than adding lots of cheese, just a small amount of ricotta cheese transforms the flavor and texture of this soup at the very end of cooking.
If you would like to try adding in Italian sausage instead, it is a wonderful combination of flavors! If you prefer spicy Italian sausage, simply omit the red pepper flakes.
I hope that you enjoy this soup as much as we do! It sounds rather tasty on a night as chilly as this one. My fingers are about frozen as I type this! It might be time to head inside and warm up a bowl on the stove.
Have a wonderful Sunday evening!
xoxo Kayla
Conchiglie Bolognese Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp salted butter
- 2 cups brown mushrooms, sliced
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried basill
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 28 oz crushed or diced tomatoes
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 heaping cups baby spinach
- 2 cups medium pasta shells
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Instructions
- Heat a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Melt the butter and cook the mushrooms until they soak up the butter and begin releasing their own juices, about 7-8 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook until the onion is translucent, about 3-4 more minutes.
- Brown the beef being careful to let it brown on all sides before crumbling. Crumble it into chunks until fully cooked through, about 4-5 minutes. Season everything with oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Adjust seasonings to taste. Stir in the tomato paste until it coats the vegetables and beef, then add in the crushed tomatoes and bring to a boil.
- Pour in the chicken stock. Stir in the spinach and pasta, then bring the soup to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the soup simmer until the pasta is cooked, about 7-10 minutes depending on the variety.
- Stir in the heavy cream and ricotta cheese and return the soup to a simmer. Serve hot topped with parmesan cheese and more salt and pepper.
