Chickpea, Pumpkin, & Sage Stew

The simple additions I made to this recipe turned out a delicious stew! I wouldn't call this a soup given how thick it becomes so quickly due to the pasta absorbing the liquid. First, I did make a double batch and I used fresh cooked chickpeas that were simmered with onions and garlic. For the stew, to the onion, carrot & sage mixture I added 4 large minced garlic cloves one minute before the end of sautéing. Once the liquid, beans, and pumpkin were added in I also added 4 generous pinches of thyme. Then I let this simmer for about 8 minutes before adding the dry pasta. After the pasta was finished cooking in the stew I added salt and plenty of black pepper. I drizzled the evoo over the servings and served the stew with fresh grated pecorino Romano. My family loved it!

I agree, this was bland as written. I added less stock, left out the pasta, but added some Mushroom Umami powder and za atar. Of course, salt and pepper. It was more of a stew with the reduced stock, but my husband loved it. I'm still on the fence about it. However, it was filling and didn't take much time to make.

So easy and delicious! I added a little cinnamon and cayenne to the carrots and onions, and also tossed in about 1/4 cup of canned coconut milk that I had left over. I'll definitely be making this again.

This is low in flavor as written even tho I added 2 additional veggies. Definitely needs salt and pepper.
Will try some of the suggestions for add’l spices next time, especially bay leaf. Adding leftover roasted chicken would be a good choice too if you want a heartier soup. Also will try using roasted butternut squash.
However, the biggest mistake I made was making this too far in advance before dinner. This is not a make ahead soup. Sitting in the liquid, the pasta swelled to 2-3 times its original size due to absorbing most of the liquid. As such, I would recommend either cooking right before ready to eat dinner, or if you must make ahead, leave adding the pasta until 8 mins before ready to serve. I will also reduce the amount of pasta to 1/4 to 1/3c.

It looked so good and hearty but it was boring and so incredibly bland. I kept checking back to the recipe to see if I missed something. I am not an experienced cook though I do know salt and pepper are the minimum of seasoning to add but they are not listed. I followed it as it is written. The stew was so bad I threw it away.

It looked so good and hearty but it was boring and so incredibly bland. I kept checking back to the recipe to see if I missed something. I am not an experienced cook though I do know salt and pepper are the minimum of seasoning to add but they are not listed. I followed it as it is written. The stew was so bad I threw it away. What a waste.

As with other reviewers, I doctored this recipe up a bit. In addition to the called for ingredients, I added: celery, butternut squash (a winter favorite of mine), chicken sausage (thanks to prior reviewers for this suggestion!), kale, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, garlic cloves, nutritional yeast, ginger powder (will try freshly grated ginger next time - I didn't feel like peeling ginger this time), and shallots. And, of course, salt and pepper. I guess I doctored this up more than "a bit"!

My chicken stock also made a world of difference. It includes the following ingredients: alkaline water, chicken bones, ginger, turmeric, swiss chard, carrots, celery, fennel, lavender, cilantro, parsley, thyme, lemon thyme, sage, apple cider vinegar and himalayan sea salt.

End product was delicious. I'll be making again with a tweak to the ginger and with the sage butter topping suggestion.

I was disappointed that this was printed in the recent Food52 holiday catalog! So incredibly bland. I initially thought it looked nice and warm for winter, but on reading the ingredients decided it probably wouldn't taste like anything. It doesn't even call for salt?!?!

With that in mind, I made it with 1 whole onion, 2 carrots, 2 sticks of celery, salt and pepper, a lot of extra broth than was called for (maybe 7 cups?), a little cinnamon and nutmeg, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice. It came out ok, but honestly was still pretty bland.

I'm always confused when Food 52 decides to publish something incredibly blah like this, as seems to be happening more and more often lately. Maybe they have more content than they can manage effectively.

This was featured in the printed Food 52 catalog just received. Made it tonight and it was so bland, I kept saying "This needs something" and then checked reviews. I am surprised it was printed as is with these reviews.

Tasted this after adding all the ingredients (I did swap 1/2 a leek for the onion) and all I could taste was raw pumpkin puree, so I added 2 t salt, 1 t pepper, 1 t grated fresh ginger, another 2 cups of broth, 2 cups of diced kale, 2 cups diced cooked chicken, 1/2lb cooked sweet Italian sausage and a 1/2 t garlic powder. That came out very well! Not good as written, though.

Tasted this after adding all the ingredients (I did swap 1/2 a leek for the onion) and all I could taste was raw pumpkin puree, so I added 2 t salt, 1 t pepper, 1 t grated fresh ginger, another 2 cups of broth, 2 cups of diced kale, 2 cups diced cooked chicken, 1/2lb cooked sweet Italian sausage and a 1/2 t garlic powder. That came out very well! Not good as written, though.

I didn’t read the reviews before I started to make this, which is rare. Thankfully I read them when I just added the stock and made adjustments accordingly. I’m glad I did because as written this would definitely lack depth and flavor. I added 1/8 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, 2 bay leaves, a few more carrots, shallot, and a pinch of ginger. I also added salt and pepper (fresh ground) and 1/8 tsp salt. I used pastina and let it cook for longer then the recipe calls for... it got lovely and thick but please note that if you want it brothy then I’d decrease the pasta (at least for pastina) to 1/2 cup to 1 cup. Lastly, I added grated Parmesan at the end.

Even with all of my additions this was very very mild. I found it soothing and I think, if you’re willing to tinker with it to suit your tastes, it’s a nice recipe to have.

Based on reviews, I added pumpkin spice and my favorite spice, fennel. I also used orzo for the pasta and let it reduce a bit to obtain a thicker soup. Delicious and my new fav!

i have made this recipe several times and have decided on the following variations:

-whole onion, not half
-two to three cloves of garlic
-sauté half a bunch of parsley alongside the sage
-add sage stems, 2 bay leaves, some ground ginger, and a cinnamon stick to boil
-also 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp salt, black pepper, some red pepper flakes
-add kale or another leafy green
-boil without lid to let things thicken up a bit
-salt to taste at the end
-add a little fresh parsley to finish

and, the best recommendation i found in the comments: brown butter with more sage leaves. i like to let the sage get perfectly crispy and lay them over the soup once it's done. i personally like 4 tbsp but you might start with 2 if you're less indulgent than i am.

i do imagine if you start with a very good broth, most of the doctoring up in the comments won't be necessary--as a lazy vegetarian i'll probably never know for sure. don't skip the brown butter, though!

I made this and added a bit of pumpkin pie spice at the end. I'm in love!

I read the comments before trying this one and decided to doctor it up some. I'm glad I did. I added additional olive oil at the start, as well as two cloves of garlic, grated ginger, 1/2 tsp. turmeric, a bay leaf, a Parmesan rind, a bit of crushed red pepper, and I used homemade chicken stock, which always seems to make a difference. It was still a very mild soup, but definitely hearty. I also fried up some chopped fresh sage in brown butter to sprinkle over top, and that was what really made it.

Any suggestions about how I would make this into a slow cooker meal? Looking mostly for suggestions on the setting/temp and cook time...

THANKS!!!

Any recommendations for a gluten free grain that can be used instead of the pasta?

Very bland as written, but easy enough to fix.

I agree with other commenters, this be terribly as written. I added curry powder, tumeric, cumin, and red pepper flakes, and it was quite good.