Tag Archives: soup

Italian Wedding Soup

18 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by in Soups

≈ 5 Comments

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Let me preface this post by proclaiming that, no, I am not in any way Italian.  In fact, I have likely never had Italian Wedding Soup made by a real Italian person.  If it’s on the menu I’ll order it, and that’s how this recipe came to be.  I ordered some Italian Wedding Soup one time in some random restaurant and thought to myself, “I can make this shit”.  So don’t go calling up your Nona and having her rush over to correct all the ways I’ve gone wrong.  When you taste this soup you’ll get how oh-so-right it is.

Here are your ingredients:

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You’ll need:

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 bag fresh spinach
  • 2 small onions
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • Parmesan cheese  (I like the grated stuff)
  • Parsley
  • Celery, 2 cups, chopped
  • Carrots, 2 cups, chopped
  • Garlic
  • Mushrooms (I use cremini, you use your favorite), 2 cups, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper (red, yellow or orange)
  • fresh or “squeezy” basil
  • Seasonings
  • Chicken stock
  • Acini de Pepe pasta

Now, let’s get started on your meatballs.  These tender turkey meatballs are flavored heavily with basil and parmesan and it will take all you’ve got not to devour them out of the pan before returning them to your soup.

To your pound of ground turkey (use all white meat ground turkey for an even more low fat version of this soup!) add a tablespoon of “squeezy” basil.  This is basil from a tube that can be found in most all grocery stores’ herb sections.  I like this stuff because I don’t have to grow it or keep it alive and it has a pretty damn long shelf life in the door of my fridge.  Tastes as close to the fresh stuff as you’re ever gonna get, in my humble opinion.

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Next, you were probably wondering why there was a whole wheat hamburger bun in the ingredients picture.  That’s because I thought I had panko bread crumbs but I was in fact, wrong (note the time and date, this doesn’t happen often).  So, I used my food processor to grind up a hamburger bun for fresh breadcrumbs.  Use panko or fresh…they’re lighter and will make for a much lighter and more tender meatball.

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Add those breadcrumbs to your turkey along with an egg.

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Now I like to break out my food processor to get the tiniest of possible chops on the veggies that go in these little meatballs.  First, a small onion, cut in 8ths.  Into the processor it goes.

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Next, about 5 toes of garlic.

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Then, a big handful of fresh parsley.

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Now get your grind on.  Scrape down the side and pulse a few more times.  You’re looking for tee-tiny little pieces.  Nothing so big it will take long to cook through.

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Add all that aromatic goodness to your meatball mix and open your spice cabinet.  It’s time to season.  You want to add about a teaspoon of kosher salt, a 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper (you can use black pepper, too), and a teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning.

Now to that add about 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese and get to mixing.  Now you’re ready to make meatballs.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this and the best I can tell you is to make your meatballs about the size of one human testicle.  You can see that my meatball mix made about 24 testicle-sized meatballs.  Yum.

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Heat some olive oil over medium/medium-low heat on the stove in a heavy bottomed pot (use the same pot you’ll use for your soup!) and add your meatballs in shifts.  Don’t crowd the balls, folks.  They need room to breathe.  I did mine in 3 shifts.  It’s a lot of ball work, but if you’re not already, you’ll be a pro like me in no time.  Now just brown those balls on all sides and add them to a plate set aside (Not the plate with the raw meatballs.  Jesus.  Basic food safety here, folks).

Now if you’re good like me, you’ll be prepping and chopping your soup vegetables while the meatballs cook.  I chopped about 2 cups of carrots and celery, as seen below.  You know how chunky you like your veggies in your soup.  Just chop ’em how you like ’em.

Next, 2 cups chopped onion and 1 chopped pepper.  I like to use either red, orange or yellow.  Today at the store, for whatever reason, the yellow ones were about 16 cents cheaper.  So, after this, I’m headed straight to the bank, baby.

Next, chop about 7 toes of garlic and about 2 cups of mushrooms.  I keep the mushrooms separate from the other chopped vegetables because I add them later in the cooking process.

Congratulations!  You’ve completed all your cutting and chopping for the evening!  And by now all your meatballs should be perfectly done and smelling your entire house up like garlic, basil and parmesan cheese.

Leave the little brown bits left behind from your meatballs in the pot and dump in your chopped veggies, with the exception of the mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper and add about 1/2 cup of white wine.  Don’t go judging my fancy wine selection, here. Feel free to use any white wine that you would also drink…that doesn’t leave much out for me as you can clearly see from the plastic container with peel back, yogurt-style, foil lid.  Let the wine simmer over medium heat for a few minutes and scrape up all the meatball yumminess that is stuck to the bottom of your pot.

After about 5 minutes of cooking, go ahead and add your mushrooms and cover the whole pot, leaving about 2-3 of space from the top, with delicious, homemade chicken stock.  Simmer this for about another 7-10 minutes.

Now, let’s add some spinach.  You’re going to add about 3/4 of your bag of fresh spinach at this point.  Tear the spinach into smaller pieces with your bare hands.  Grunt loudly as you do it in a show of strength.  Stir that in and give it a minute or two to incorporate.

Now, add your meatballs back in to the pot.  Also add any meaty juice that may have collected on your plate.  That’s good shit.  Let this all cook together over a simmer for about 10 minutes.  You’re spinach will get all wilty and delicious.

Next, you’re going to add a 1/2 cup of uncooked acini de pepe pasta directly to the simmering pot.  This tiny, ball-shaped pasta got its name because it looks like little peppercorns.  They’re adorable and I love them.  Cook the pasta for the recommended time on the back of the box or until tender, then add the last 1/4 bag of spinach, grunting loudly again to let everyone in the house know what a complete badass you are.  If no one’s in the house with you, grunt louder so the neighbors can hear.  Stir that spinach in and you’re all done!

Ladle yourself a delicious bowl of Wedding Soup and top with a little more parmesan cheese…because you deserve it.  Voila!

 

 

 

 

Cajun Limas With Sausage and Ham

12 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by in Cajun dishes

≈ 6 Comments

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I know what everyone’s thinking…BEANS?  REALLY…BEANS?  Oh yeah, baby.  BEANS.

Not only are beans and rice a staple food in almost every culture due to the low cost and availability, but they’re also de-freaking-licious.  As an official coonass, I’ve eaten a LOT of beans in my day and I can tell you we like our beans, no matter what kind, over a steaming pile of white rice and almost always with about half a pig in that pot in one way or another.  Red beans, white beans, black eyed peas…I love them all, but my favorite bean is the LIMA.  I like them fresh and green from the garden with that sweet lima flavor that screams Spring time and I love them in this recipe–slow cooked on the stove with pork sausage, ham, veggies and wine until they’re thick and creamy and packed with flavor. The recipe is cheap, easy, and will feed a truckload of hungry men.  It’s a stick-to-your-ribs pot of deliciousness and here’s how you make it…

Your ingredients:

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  • 1 lb large dried lima beans
  • Smoked sausage (about 1 1/2 pounds of your favorite variety)
  • Smoked ham (here I used 10oz. of smoked, diced ham from my freezer)
  • Celery (4 stalks, diced)
  • 1 large onion (diced)
  • 5-6 toes of garlic (chopped)
  • 5-6 green onions (chopped)
  • Carrots (12-16 baby carrots or 4 large regular carrots, diced)
  • Bay leaves
  • White wine (your favorite)
  • Seasonings

Time to soak your beans!  A person with the capacity for forethought and pre-planning would soak their dried beans overnight in a big pot of cold water and when they woke up in the morning…VOILA! Their beans are ready to cook.  Me?  I’m an impulse beaner.  I never know when my need for beans is going to strike so I usually follow the instructions on the back of the back for the “quick soak”, which entails adding your dried beans to hot water, bringing them to a rolling boil for exactly 2 minutes, removing them from the heat, and covering them for an hour.  Whatever kind of beaner you are, the pre-soak is an essential step and cannot be skipped.

Your beans will start off looking something like the picture on the left, and when they’re done soaking and ready to cook, they’ll look like the photo on the right:

While your beans are soaking and plumping, get started prepping your meats and veggies!

You’ll need a large white, yellow or vidalia onion, and 5-6 green onions, diced smallish.

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To a coonass girl like me, onions are a strong aphrodisiac.  Rub a bit behind your ears to smell great for the ladies all day.

I used about 15 baby carrots here because that’s all I had on hand.  They add sweetness and beautiful color to the dish.  If you have regular, large carrots just use about 4.  Whatever size you’re using, quarter the carrot before chopping so your pieces are small and will cook evenly.

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You’ll need about 4 stalks of celery with the leafy ends.  Those leafy ends are packed with vitamins and nutrients that you don’t want to miss out on.  Just kidding.  I don’t know if that’s true at all and I don’t really care (note the amount of pork I’m about to add).  But they’re packed with delicious celery flavor, and that’s what you’re after.  Cut these vertically up the middle, too, so they’re about the same size dice as your carrots and everything cooks at the same rate.

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Now finely dice some garlic, about 5-6 toes (my brother from another mother, Pepe, is who got me started calling a clove of garlic a toe, so blame that on him).

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Now that your veggies are diced and beans are pre-soaked, drain your beans and sort through them.  I have no idea what you’re looking for when you “sort” your beans, but every recipe says to do this so I do it.  I guess you’re looking for rocks or gold teeth or something like that.  Just do it.

In a big, heavy bottomed pot, add your chopped veggies to some olive oil or bacon fat.  Totally your call.  I’m not here to judge.

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Start sauteing those veggies in your fat of choice until they start getting a little translucent and let’s talk seasonings.  Here’s what I think these beans can’t live without:  kosher salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, thyme leaves, hot sauce, and a heaping tablespoon full of brown sugar.  Brown sugar??, you ask.  Yeah, dummy, brown sugar.  I discovered how delicious the brown sugar makes these beans after using some leftover HoneyBaked Ham instead of regular smoked ham from the store and now I’ll never go back.  Don’t leave it out.  It makes a difference.

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Now for the star of the show…the PIG.  Add your diced smoked ham and sliced smoked sausage to your cooking veggies and let the smell wash over you.  Breathe in.  Exhale.  Breathe in again.  If there’s a heaven, this is what it smells like, folks.  Yummmmmm.

Now, this is going to surprise those of you that know me but I had about a 1/2 cup of white wine leftover from the other night.  I know!  The shame! The horror!  Pour your wine in over the top of this deliciousness and simmer for a few minutes, letting the flavor soak in while the alcohol cooks out.  Then to that, I added a few chicken bouillon cubes.  I added bouillon cubes because all my stock was frozen and I was too lazy to defrost it.  But feel free to use stock in the place of water in this recipe.

Now add your beans (sans rocks and gold teeth) back to the pot and cover with water. It’ll look like this and you’ll want to eat it but WAIT…you’ve got a while to go, my friend.

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Now’s the time when you have to remember that “patience is a virtue” and “good things come to those who wait” and all that other crap.  It’s worth it.  I promise.  Let that goodness come to a slow boil then turn it down to a low simmer.  Cook uncovered for what seems like forever.  This pot took me about 3 hours…the 3 longest hours of my life.  You’re after a creamy consistency and you need to get there like the tortoise, slow and steady.  Return to your pot every 30 minutes or so to give it a good stir, making sure nothing is sticking to the bottom.  Turn your heat down if you experience any sticking.  You’re looking for the liquid to cook out of your pot, and you’ll notice the water line will keep going down after each break between stirs.  Now’s the time to taste and reseason as needed.  Think you have too much water?  Scoop some out.  Think you need more water?  Add some in.  This is not rocket surgery, people, it’s a pot of beans.

The photo on your left is about an hour in to cooking.  The photo on your right is your goal.  See how creamy and delicious those beans look?  See how much liquid has cooked down at the pot’s rim?  That’s what you’re after.

You’re only next step is to make yourself some white rice, serve a steaming helping into a bowl, and pour these delicious, spicy, porky lima beans all over the top.  Now you’re eating like a Cajun, baby.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!