If you're in the mood for something not too heavy, but tasty, try these two options:
Stracciatella Soup
Both our choices that remind me of my Italian upbringing!
They are usually just tiny pasta stars!
Pastina
Pastina is kind-of like a comfort food to me now. When I was little it was my one of mom's go-to foods when I was sick.
It's quick and simple, and it makes you feel all warm inside... AKA "comfort food".
First, you go to the store and buy a box of Pastina so you always have it on hand! This is what it looks like:
There are plenty of brands to choose from also! Whatever your store carries, whatever's cheapest, it's all the same! Barilla, Ronzoni, Prince... I do usually have this on hand because it's good to add to soups, especially Italian wedding soup or like my first recipe today - or to just eat alone, by itself.
Pastina
You will need:
1/4c Pastina
1c water or chicken broth*
1 egg, lightly beaten
1t butter
1T grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
• Bring water or broth to boil in a small pot.
• Add Pastina and salt; cook until most of the water is absorbed (3-4 minutes)
• turn off heat and stir in egg - it will cook in the hot pasta
• add butter, cheese, and pepper
---------
You could add Passtina to the following soup as well; I didn't. It's like an Italian version of "egg drop soup"...
Stracciatella Soup
INGREDIENTS
4c chicken broth*
4 eggs
1/3c grated Parmesan
1T chopped fresh parsley
2c fresh spinach
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
• bring broth to a simmer in soup pot
• whisk together eggs, cheese, parsley, and about 1/2t salt.
• slowly pour the egg mixture into broth while stirring
• continue to stir until the eggs are "set" (about one minute)
• add spinach and stir to wilt
Yum!
Stave off that cold!
Perfect for a rainy day!
--------
**Making your own broth:
I have been making my own chicken broth lately. It seems that it is something that I am always buying at the store.
Making your own not only means that you can control the ingredients, but it is better tasting than the store-bought.
The soup was killer because of the broth!
If you haven't tried making your own yet I highly recommend it! It's easy and way cheaper in the long run!
** I usually make broth the day after I have used a whole chicken, or a rotisserie chicken in some other recipe. Buying the rotisserie chicken seems to be my trend these days! They're inexpensive and save a lot of cooking time!
Just take the chicken carcass (if you have some meat on it - great, but it's not necessary) Throw it in a soup pot and cover it with water.
Add salt pepper and any or all of the following: carrot, celery, onion, parsley.
They don't even have to be nice - Just clean! And, by nice I mean you can use the parts of the veggies that you have cut off to throw away from other recipes! Just save the ends of carrots or celery - or even onion skins - in a Ziploc bag as you are preparing other meals during the week. They just help to flavor the broth and you will be skimming them all off and throwing them away anyway!
Which leads me to my next step:
Cook on low heat at least two hours.
Skim all veggies out and throw away along with the chicken carcass that has been plucked of any remaining bits.
Now you have chicken broth free of MSD or an overload of salt!
I like to freeze mine in leftover containers from cottage cheese (or anything). I even pour some into ice cube trays, freeze them and then pop them out to freeze in Ziploc bags - easy to add a little bit of broth that way to recipes.
If you are not eating meat and want to make vegetable broth just don't include the chicken carcass and throw in any vegetables that you would like. Just follow the same steps.
Enjoy your lunch!
No comments:
Post a Comment