Posted on 02/02/2017 8:14:29 PM PST by CottonBall
Today’s recipes are Italian soups! This is in honor of my Nonna (Italian grandmother), who strangely enough, couldn’t cook anything except soup. Her soups were out of this world good. Unfortunately, I never watched her make one to learn her secret. I know she didn’t make her own stock, so that wasn’t the key. She was rather a lazy cook, so I’m guessing it had to do with some Italian ingredients that we can’t get here, or I don’t know about.
So these recipes are ones I’ve found and probably modified to suit my tastes. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I’ve always enjoyed the pics in Jamestown’s threads, being a visual person plus lazy, but these recipes are from my files, sans pictures.
Ribollita (Reboiled Italian Cabbage Soup)
This one is rich and hearty, even though it is mainly vegetables. I make a big pot in the winter and have it all week.
1/2 lb dried white beans
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 lb diced bacon
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
3 T minced garlic
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
28 oz chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup fresh basil
4 cups coarsely chopped kale
4 cups coarsely chopped Savoy cabbage
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups sourdough, without crusts
Soak beans overnight. Simmer in 8 cups of water 45 minutes; add 1 tsp salt and simmer 15 minutes. In oil, sauté bacon and onion. Add carrots, celery, garlic, 1 T salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper until tender. Add tomatoes, kale, cabbage if using, and basil and cook 7 to 10 minutes. Drain beans, reserving liquid. Purée one half with a little cooking liquid and add to pot with the remaining whole beans. Pour bean liquid into large measuring cup, adding chicken stock to make 8 cups. Add to soup, boil, then simmer 20 minutes. Add bread and simmer 10 minutes. Sprinkle bowls with Parmesan cheese and olive oil.
Iota
This is my mother’s recipe. She was from Trieste, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire before being annexed to Italy after World War I. So many of the recipes from the region have Austrian or Hungarian influences. The long slow cooking of the sauerkraut mellow its flavor so it’s not as weird as you might think at first glance. It probably still is an acquired taste, however.
10 ounce dried white beans
8 cups water
2 cloves garlic
1 potato, diced
3 ounce bacon, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 pound sauerkraut
2/3 cup cornmeal
Soak beans in cold water twelve hours. Drain. Cover with water and simmer one hour. Cook bacon. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add drained sauerkraut to the bacon in pan with oil. Add 1/2 tsp cumin. Add 1 cup water and cook very slowly one hour. Cook until liquid has evaporated. Add one diced potato and 4 cups water. Cook at a slow boil 30 minutes. Add beans and cook slowly 30 minutes. Add cornmeal in a thin stream, 3 cups water and cook at a slow boil one hour.
Love lentils anyway, anywhere!
If anyone has trouble with regularity, eat a half cup or so of lentils everyday. I have them as a side frequently; like our friends in Dixie have their side of white beans. Lentils are friendly to most any flavor profile. Cajun, Asian, Italian, Mediterranean, etc.
or you can cook in a slow cooker.
= = = = = = = = = = =
I do mine in a deep fryer...
Can’t get enough of that dose of grease etc...
At my age if I change my diet, it will probably ‘kill me’, the shock of no rare meat, good, greasy hamburgers, pizza that soaks through the box etc etc would not be handled well by my ‘spoiled innards’ (spoiled as in familiarity)
Not Italian, but we love this soup. The cauliflower dish is also great
From Paula Wolfert:
I use a bit of lemon juice but it’s the same principle as the apple cider. It perks up chicken soup.
It has been flip flopping from 50 to 80 every few days here. Today it’s 50 so soup will hit the spot. Have all the ingredients for your lentil soup so will have a go with it tonight.
Yum. Hubby loves potatoes and I love the rich smokey flavor smoked sausage imparts to everything it touches. I’ll definitely be making this! Thanks
Late addition to the pie thread. I set out a variety of winter squashes for holiday decorations. After finally cooking them up the other day there was one spaghetti squash left so made it into a mock coconut pie this week. So simple.
Mock Coconut Pie (spaghetti squash)
1 spaghetti squash cooked, peeled, seeded and the long strands chopped (bake until soft)
2 eggs
1/4 C margarine
3/4 C sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 t vanilla
1/2 t coconut extract
a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg
Pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until set.
Optional - After it’s baked and you want a golden top, sprinkle some sugar on top and put back into the oven on broil for a few minutes.
Serve plain or with whipped cream.
Sounds good! I have about 10 butternuts still in my basement from last summer’s garden.
What spices do you recommend, since the recipe leaves it up to the reader? I’m thinking maybe cardamom sounds Moroccan? Or I just like cardamom and try to add it to everything, lol
A healthy coconut pie?! Awesome.
Yeah ribollita is basically as vegetable soup in a tomato base, but with a kick of heat and bread added. Sometimes I leave out the bread, and dunk it instead.
Like minestrone, any vegetables can be added.
Do you add pasta to your minestrone?
I use a lot of ras el hanout which is a ME spice. It has coriander, cayenne,cumin seeds, chili, ginger, allspice, cloves, cardamon and various black peppers and cinnamon .
HELP! Hubby sprayed my new nonstick baking pan with cooking spray and now that it’s baked on it won’t clean off. Yes, I told him not to use it but... I’ve tried letting it soak in straight dishwashing liquid, sprayed it with 409 and nothing cuts the brown cooking spray spots. I don’t want to use a metal scrubber on it so need some help.
Oh crap! He owes you big time now ;)
How about trying a nonscratching powder, like bon ami or baking soda, very gently?
I’ve removed baked on cooking spray with a Brillo pad, but hopefully with the nonstick coating your spots can be removed more gently.
This is a great beef/madeira soup-labor intensive and quite fancy. But results are terrific.
Found these suggestions googling “removing cooking spray residue from pans”
Non-Stick Pans. Wash the pan in a sink with warm water and mild dish detergent, making sure that all food particles are removed. Mix equal parts of baking soda and water to create a paste. Apply the baking soda paste to the residue on the pan and scrub with a non-abrasive sponge or brush.
Place your baking dish in a larger baking pan & squeeze soap dish over it plus a couple of handfuls of baking soda then add hot water to cover the dirty baking dish. Let it soak for an hour of so then just scrub with a brush & that’s it! You can buy a large box of baking soda at Smart & Final or Sam’s Club or Costco.
My wife did a similar thing a few months ago. I used Dawn Power Dissolver spray to clean it up. It worked really well.
Apparently it’s not just you and me having these issues - there’s lots of suggestions: https://www.google.com/search?q=How+do+you+get+cooking+spray+off+pans%3F&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiDurL6oPTRAhXCTSYKHRAKAiAQzmcIMw&biw=568&bih=320
Sounds good!
Looks like the time-consuming part is lengthy simmering times and refrigerating overnight, but other than that it’s not too much work. IMO ;)
Here are our favorite cookies that I’m making today. Filled Cookies found on page 196 in my grandmother’s old 1950 Betty Crocker Cookbook. We would use up old homemade preserves for the fillings. Today’s will be strawberry preserves but tomato preserves are WOW! Also, fig. Great for a pop tart breakfast on the go or piggy snacking. Warning - don’t make them into a square and send them to school with your kids as they might be expelled for biting them into a certain unmentionable shape.
Filled Cookies (pop tart on steroids) - double batch
5 C flour
1/2 baking soda
1 t salt
1 C soft shortening
2 C sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
4 T cream (I have never added this)
Chill dough. Roll out and cut into 4” circles or whatever shape you wish. Place a spoon of jam or preserves (jelly tends to leak out) in the center of one piece of dough and top it with a second piece of dough. Press the edges together. Peirce top to vent.
Bake at 400 (that’s too high I bake at 325-350) for 10 minutes or until slightly golden.
The dough is similar to a sugar cookie though less sweet but the filling sweetens it.
Threw out the Bon Ami when the kitchen sink pipes unconnected themselves and poured water everywhere a few weeks ago. Hate it when that happens, ugh. So, off to try baking soda. Thanks.
I’m totally trying the Ribollita. Looks SO good!!
I really enjoy minestrone and Italian wedding soup. Hubby and I make mega-batches of meatballs, cook them, then freeze them in meal size portions.
What I wish I could get locally is dried cannellini beans. I can only find them canned.
This is another one we like. Sometimes I will add sliced bacon or pancetta to the garlic as it cooks, then layer on the bread and cheese.
This a great winter soup:
Zuppa alla Valpelleunenze
from Diana Henry’s Roast Figs Sugar Snow
Ingredients
Garlic, 4 cloves
Butter, 3 tbsp
Rye or coarse country bread, or a mixture on the two,12 oz, cut in 2 inch chunks.
Chicken stock, 6 cups
Grated Parmesan, 2 tbsp
Salt and pepper
Fontina or Taleggio cheese 10 1/2 oz, thinly sliced.
Savoy green cabbage, 1 lb 5 oz/ shredded
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 310 F.
2. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Melt 1 oz of the butter in a large, lidded ovenproof casserole dish over a low heat and add the garlic. Cook until just transparent, not colored.
3. While the garlic is softening, chop the bread into small chunks, thinly slice the Fontina and heat the chicken stock in a small saucepan.
4. Once the garlic is soft, layer the bread and Fontina on top of it, toss gently and season.
5. Pour the chicken stock over the top, cover and put in the oven for about 35 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, trim and shred the cabbage (remove and discard the hard stalk if necessary), melt the rest of the butter in another lidded saucepan, add the cabbage and a little water. Season with a little salt and pepper, cover and cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes, stirring it every now and then.
7. Remove the casserole from the oven and turn the oven temperature up to 350F.
8. Add the cabbage and Parmesan to the bread and cheese, cover and return to the oven for about another 10 minutes. The zuppa is done when it is bubbling and hot. Serve immediately. Serves 2-3.
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