Title:How one Hoya turned her favorite recipes into soups

Although Michele Di Pietro (B’92) was a certified public accountant, she found her true calling in the food world. As a website owner, recipe developer, professional chef, and culinary consultant, she leads her brand, Mangia With Michele, providing innovative culinary guidance to homes and businesses.

In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, Di Pietro finally had the time to write her first cookbook. Inspired by popular cozy recipes of the time, she created a comfort food cookbook, SOUPified: Soups Inspired by Your Favorite Dishes.

“My goal was to create soup versions of classic dishes with their traditional flavors and as many of their textures as possible,” she says. “SOUPified gives you the tangible elements of the recipes—the ingredients and techniques—as well as the intangible—the cultural inspiration, family stories, and personal experiences.”

Di Pietro’s SOUPified collects 31 soup recipes inspired by favorite dishes like eggplant parmesan and chicken marsala with a foreward from fellow Hoya, Mary Giuliani (C’97), founder and chief executive officer of Mary Giuliani Catering and Events.

Coming to Georgetown, Di Pietro never imagined she would write a cookbook, instead focusing on her accounting major and her role in the professional business fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi.

“My Georgetown experience is a significant part of who I am today,” she says. “Senior year, I had Professor Robert Bies for management and organizational behavior. Our first assignment was to do something creative and write about it. It helped me realize I had a creative side and was a part of what led me to go to cooking school and eventually become a food writer.”

Coming out of college she wanted to work at a large accounting firm in New York, but after accomplishing that goal, “I realized I wasn’t passionate about it. I made the leap to go to cooking school and change careers,” she says.

Di Pietro is proud of her long career in the culinary world and her cookbook. In the future, she plans to write at least one more and, if possible, return to Georgetown for a cooking demonstration for students, faculty, and staff.

“The great thing about a printed cookbook is that it can be handed down to future generations; it won’t disappear when I do,” says Di Pietro. “It’s another avenue for me to share innovation, inspiration and nostalgia through my brand, Mangia With Michele. Ultimately, my passion is to bring people together around the cutting board, the stove, and the kitchen table.”

Learn more about the book on the Alumni Authors page >

Read below for a bonus soup recipe.

PENNE alla VODKA SOUP WITH PANCETTA

Serves 4 to 6

(Reprinted with permission from SOUPified: Soups Inspired by Your Favorite Dishes, by Michele Di Pietro, 2020)

12 ounces pancetta, chopped into very small pieces

2 cups diced yellow onions (about 1 medium onion)

¼ cup chopped garlic (9 to 10 cloves)

2 cups lightly packed chopped fresh basil leaves, divided

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

½ cup tomato paste

1 cup vodka 

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

3 cans (14.5 ounces) whole or diced tomatoes

1 cup roasted red pepper, drained, no seeds (about 8 ounces)

¼ cup Garlic Confit cloves (recipe in cookbook and also here: https://mangiawithmichele.com/garlic-confit-and-garlic-oil/)

1 tablespoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 cups pennette (mini penne) or other small pasta such as orecchiette or ditalini (10 ounces)

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (optional topping)

Freshly ground black pepper (optional topping)

1. Prepare Garlic Confit if you do not have any on hand.
2. Cook pancetta: Place pancetta in 6-quart (or larger) pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Slowly cook it until it becomes crispy and most of the fat has been rendered. (This could take 15 to 20 minutes.) Remove pancetta with slotted spoon and set it aside to drain on paper towels. Remove all but about 3 tablespoons of rendered fat from the pot and use for other purpose or discard. Leave enough fat to cover bottom of pot.
3. Add onions, garlic, 1 cup basil, and crushed red pepper. Cook for about 4 minutes, or until onions have softened a bit, stirring occasionally.
4. Move onion mixture to one side of pot. Then add tomato paste and cook it for about 30 seconds. Remove pot from heat. Then pour in vodka and stir to loosen and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of pot.
5. Return pot to heat and add broth, tomatoes, roasted peppers, Garlic Confit, salt, and black pepper. Stir until all ingredients are well combined. Cover pot and bring mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer, partially covered, for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until all vegetables have softened. Reduce heat to low and carefully purée mixture until smooth using an immersion blender.
6. Increase heat and return mixture to a simmer. Add pasta and stir well. Simmer until pasta is al dente, using instructions on pasta package as a guideline, stirring continuously so that pasta doesn’t stick or get clumpy. Taste pasta along the way to monitor its doneness.
7. Once pasta is al dente, reduce heat to low. Then whisk in cream and cook for another 2 minutes while stirring. Add additional liquid if you want a brothier soup. Stir in ¾ of the crispy pancetta and remaining 1 cup basil, then turn off heat.
8. Ladle soup into bowls and top with remaining crispy pancetta and optional toppings, if desired.