Sunday, September 30, 2007

Last Day in September

It's fitting that I would be wanting to clean the house on such a drizzly, grey- almost October morning. We are planning to get organized today... Nothing is tempting us outside even though I think about the loyal farmer's market shoppers in their raincoats. It makes me want to find my ratty string bean pajama bottoms and make Italian wedding soup with my sugarbeet- my pet name for my husband.

Italian Wedding Soup
Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

Meatballs:
1 small onion, grated
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 large egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
8 ounces ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:
12 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp (or more) freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup small-sized pasta

To make the meatballs:
Stir the first six ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet. Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs, pasta and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season with S+P

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