Italian Wedding Soup

Without realizing it, I seem to make this soup every time I have my cousins around (which is never often enough, in my opinion).  Chelsea requested it on our drive home through the snowy mountains tonight, and as the temperature dropped and the sun went down,  I thought it was just about the most brilliant Sunday supper idea ever. With a bottle or two of wine.

While the meatball rolling seems a bit tedious at first glance, I was shocked how quickly and easily it came together.  Start to finish it took less than 30 minutes.  Why don't I make this delicious (and inexpensive) soup more often??  I have a feeling that is about to change.

By the way I have no idea why this is called Italian Wedding Soup... but perhaps it will bring you an Italian wedding in the near future. It's worth of shot.

Italian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis' Everyday Italian


Ingredients:
Meatballs-
1/2 yellow onion (or 1 small onion) grated or very finely diced
1 large egg
2 cloves grated or minced garlic
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 slice sandwich bread, crust trimmed, cut into tiny pieces (I used spelt bread and it was just fine)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb grass-fed ground beef (or half beef and half pork. Or lamb!)
Freshly ground black pepper

Soup-
12 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade)
1/2 pound kale (possible substitutions: escarole, curly endive)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for topping
Salt and freshly ground pepper

To Cook:
To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese and ground meat.  Using about 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the kale and the meatballs (gently!) and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and kale is tender, about 8 minutes.  Whisk the eggs and cheese in a bowl to blend.  Stir the soup in a circular motion, and gradually drizzle the egg mixture in the moving broth, gently stirring with a fork to form thin strands of egg, about 1 minute.  Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and top with parmesan cheese.

Winter Tortilla Soup

When the desire for both comfort and virtue strikes (this is sometimes a rare occasion for me), only a bowl of soup can calm my needy soul. And because when this feeling strikes I'm in no mood to cook for anyone other than me (me! me!), it must to be able to happen in a flash and in a single heaping portion.

In summer I might be tempted to make something lovely with tomatoes and sweet corn, but being the dead of winter as it is, a girl must be resourceful.  Tortilla soup fits the bill for me, and its so easy it can be thrown together hastily and without much thought.

There are dozens of ways to make a delicious tortilla soup - indeed at least three for every season - but for me on this snowy day in January, this one was just about perfect.  Not least because everything it contains are staples found in my kitchen already.  Minimum effort for maximum pleasure, as Nigella would say.

Winter Tortilla Soup
3/4 cup shredded chicken (mine was from a leftover rotisserie chicken)
Half a yellow onion, diced (save a tbsp or so as a topping)
Half a red bell pepper, diced (yes I realize this is such a winter cheat, forgive me)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (preferably homemade from the bones of the rotisserie chicken)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
Half a lime
1 tsp cumin (more if you like)
1 tsp tsp mexican chili powder (more or less if you like)
Salt and pepper


Suggested Toppings (really the most important part):
Half an avocado, sliced or roughly cut into chunks
Tabasco
Raw yellow onion
Grated sharp cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Cilantro
*Tortillas- corn tortillas cut into strips and dropped in are traditional. Tortilla chips crushed on top would be delicious. I only had wheat flour tortillas around, and I assure you it was still very worth eating.

To Cook:
Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan.  Add onion, cook about 3 minutes until translucent.  Add red pepper, cook another 3 minutes.  Add chicken, then cumin, chili powder, garlic and a little salt.  Stir to combine and let flavors meld together a couple minutes. Pour in chicken stock.  Squeeze the lime juice in, then drop the lime into the pot.  Add tomato paste and stir to let it melt into the stock.  Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for about 10 minutes.

Pour all into a big bowl and top with everything and anything you would like.  Devour and be comforted.