Mini-Meatball Soup

Years ago I lifted the basic recipe for Italian Wedding Soup and made it my own. The soup becomes a luscious, silky concoction of vegetables, meatballs and pasta. Absolutely delicious on a cold spring day, light enough for hot summer days.

I put a soup pot on the burner at sauté heat and drizzled in a round of extra virgin olive oil.

Got out the chopping board and my knife. I diced up:
- one large red onion
- two stalks of celery

Earthbound Farm Organic sells snack packs of really small carrots, so I threw in three packs of those.

I then put in two bay leaves and stirred the pot.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the jar of pureed fresh ginger. I put a scant spoonful of that in there. (A regular spoon, not a soup spoon.)

I stirred.

I turned the heat up to high and put three 16 oz cans of chicken broth into the pot. I then added two cups of water.

Pulled 1 lb of hamburger and the jar of minced garlic out of the fridge and put it into a bowl.

I then put two handfuls of parmesan cheese into the bowl.

I poured two cups of breadcrumbs in there.

I put an egg in there and a 1/2 cup of water.

I put a heaping spoonful of minced garlic in there too.

I waited for the pot to bowl and walked over to the stove with my meat bowl.

I made miniature meatballs with my hands and dropped them into the boiling soup.

When I was done, I put a cup of alphabet pasta into the soup.

Then I put a cup of tubettini pasta into the soup.

I then let it boil away until the pasta was done...

In the meantime, I grabbed the bag of fresh spinach that we had in the fridge and chopped it up. All I did was run my knife through the spinach about 10 times.

Then, when the pasta was nearly done, I started dropping handfuls of the spinach into the soup pot. I let the spinach wilt in and I would drop the next handful. I'd stir it periodically with the soup still boiling away.

When the spinach was all in, the soup was done!

I don't serve it with anything because we find it's a full meat, but crusty bread or grilled cheese sandwiches are a fantastic accompaniment.

Beware: the soup is really hot! You may want to wait for it to cool a bit.

Spring Pork Stew...in a snowstorm...

I was determined to deny winter its power on this blizzard of an evening. So, I decided to make an old favorite that I made quite often in Florida but never in Nayaug: a spring pork stew. Spring because of the plethora of vegetables.

I set a pot to warming on high. My mother's 28 year old electric Jenn-Air takes a while to warm up its burners. I drizzled once around the pot with extra virgin olive oil.

Chopped a big sweet onion - I believe this was a Walla Walla, can't remember - and tossed it in.

Tossed in a tablespoon of minced fridge-garlic.

Tossed in two ribs of celery, chopped.

Tossed in three medium potatoes, chopped.

Tossed in about 12 baby carrots, chopped.

Tossed in one yellow pepper, seeded and chopped.

Tossed in two zucchini (here's the especially spring part), chopped.

I had a box of organic chicken broth from Whole Foods, so I started pouring it in bit by bit to let the vegetables steam.

I pulled the leftover pork roast out of the fridge and warmed that up for two minutes in the microwave. This is an old microwave - two minutes does just enough to leave the meat cold but make it pliable.

I then trimmed it of every ounce of fat and chopped the rest into bite-size pieces. Tossed those into the pot.

Poured the rest of the chicken broth into the pot. Added a cup of water. Put the lid on. Let it simmer.

At some point I added a tablespoon of italian seasoning and a packet of Sazón. I added sea salt (Celtic gray) and a healthy dose of white pepper.

I let it simmer some more, checking the potatoes for doneness.

Then I grabbed the box o' tapioca and measured out a scant half cup. Poured that in, mixed it all up. Presto! Stew! Just the right thickness.

And, five minutes later, we were done. Ladled it into soup bowls. Had I thought of this ahead of time, I would have made bread. Such is life...

Chicken and Potato soup

Alrighty then, I have arrived in CT as of 12Oct and have begun cooking. First, some basics. I'm a bit rusty as I just have not been motivated to cook for myself. But I brought the two all-clad sauciers as well as my cooking utensils.

On Thursday I made a chicken and potato soup seasoned with, of all things, Mrs Dash. It was fantastic. I took one peeled and cubed potato, one peeled and cubed sweet potato, one stick of celery, one small onion and sauteed them in chicken broth. Then, I added more chicken broth and started simmering. I added one packet of Garlic and Herb Mrs. Dash to the mixture. All of this was done on medium heat.

At the same time, I seasoned two boneless chicken breasts with a packet of Garlic and Herb Mrs Dash and started pan frying them in some olive oil. When they were done, I set them aside and chopped them up later to add to the soup.

After a while, sweet potatoes break down and turn into mush. They were the thickener for my soup - a very thick soup. I'm not much into brothy soups or bisques. The flavor of the soup was very vegetable with a hint of the spices from the Mrs Dash.

My parents are not too used to having garlic in everything, so that's why the very little garlic from the Mrs Dash. Adding the garlic slowly will be good.