The other day, I made my first soup from scratch...ever. Its an Italian recipe from my grandmother/mother's hometown in Molise, a province in Italy. Stracciatella (stra-chia-tell-a) is the name of the soup and in Italian it means "torn apart". Its an egg-drop soup that is so simple to make we really enjoyed it. Recipe below:
You will need:
-6 bowls of water (average size soup bowls, I use bowls because its practical, plus, that's how my grandmother and mum measure) you may choose to use 3 bowls water and 3 bowls chicken broth, organic of course!
-Chopped fresh parsley (measure about a teaspoon of chopped fresh parsley per bowl)
- 3 tablespoons of really good olive oil
-small "pastina" or little pasta - the ones that look like little balls are my favourite
-about 6 large eggs
-salt and pepper to taste
Here's what you do:
1) In a medium pot, place water to boil the pastina and cook the pastina the way you would cook any pasta (don't forget to salt the boiled water)**
2) In a separate large pot, glug the olive oil in and let it warm a bit
3) Once warm, dump in your water or water/chicken broth combo
4) Add in your chopped parsley and stir everything together let it come to a quiet boil
5) Add in some salt and pepper to taste
6) Once the pastina is done, drain most of the water but leave a bit in and dump it all into your large pot
7) Stir everything together - make sure your burner is on medium/high heat
8) Crack all your eggs in a separate bowl and beat them until fluffy (add a bit of salt and pepper to this mixture).
9) Dump the eggs into your bowl of wonderful broth and let the eggs sit there - AVOID stirring, although tempting. The eggs will cook in the water ... so let them puff up.
10) Count to 30 then mix your egg - you will see that they are fluffy like clouds and are "torn apart" by your mixing.
11) Taste for seasoning and enjoy hot!!!
TIP: I love adding bits of torn fresh white Italian bread and freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese in my soup for extra taste :)
**I made mine a bit different: Instead of pastina I used white potatoes (chopped into cubes cooked and added to the water), and roasted skinless chicken (I wanted more protein).
I hope you all try this out! Be creative, try out different substitutions!
Much love,
Pink and Sparkles
xoxo
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Dave Puts the "C" (cool) in Cooking!
The best part of my day, hands down, is coming home to my husband - whether or not he concocts something in the kitchen. But when he has the opportunity to cook (rare, as his hours are often longer than mine) my stress-filled days are automatically remedied as I step into the house to the smell of something in or on the stove. Dave in the kitchen prepping, tossing, searing or seasoning, glass of wine waiting for me, table is set and I know I'm home.
We eat dinner in front of the television quite often...
Sunday Pizza Day! Always two pizzas ... one with sauce, one without :)
And always wine ;)
I love cooking as well and I've always been quite good at it. Since I moved out of my parent's house, I've been getting even better. Its such a special treat, though, when Dave puts his own swagger into our meals - not afraid to try anything new (and rarely needing any direction whatsoever) he will take on any cooking challenge.
I haven't taken pictures of all his cooking adventures but here are a few from the last few weeks. We also do a "Sunday pizza day" every other Sunday...there are some shots of one Sunday as well. Enjoy!
We eat dinner in front of the television quite often...
Sunday Pizza Day! Always two pizzas ... one with sauce, one without :)
And always wine ;)
Much love,
Pink and Sparkles
xoxo
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Siena - the great!
By far my favourite CITY in Italy. As you may have read here, my favourite province in Italy is Tuscany and within that is the medieval city of Siena. I went to Siena in 2004 for the summer to study Art History with my university.
Siena was founded by the Etruscans between 900 - 400 BC and is considered by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The city still maintains its medieval history by being divided into 17 wards, or contrade. Each contrada has its own rich history and set of traditions. Every year, the contrade compete in a horse race unique to Siena called Il Palio di Siena. The contrade race bareback and dressed in their appropriate contrade colours. The race resides in the city's Campo (or main piazza) and they parade and party like I've never seen before. The winner's contrada parties for WEEKS after the win. Its insane!
Now that I'm hungry........I gotta get outta here and try to recreate this!!!
Till next time,
Pink and Sparkles.
Siena was founded by the Etruscans between 900 - 400 BC and is considered by UNESCO as a world heritage site. The city still maintains its medieval history by being divided into 17 wards, or contrade. Each contrada has its own rich history and set of traditions. Every year, the contrade compete in a horse race unique to Siena called Il Palio di Siena. The contrade race bareback and dressed in their appropriate contrade colours. The race resides in the city's Campo (or main piazza) and they parade and party like I've never seen before. The winner's contrada parties for WEEKS after the win. Its insane!
I cannot say enough good things about this city - you need to go. Here are some shots from our recent trip....
On the train ride to Siena!...
Il Campo...
One of many alleyways...
Can't believe this...we went for lunch near my old dormitory in our contrada - Snail (Ciocciola) and the drummers (for the Palio parade) were rehearsing!!!!....
View from my old dorm garden...
See the window at the top with the blue towel hanging...that was my dorm room with my best friend Ashley...
Another view from the dormitory garden...
Me....
Siena is HILLY as hell....this is me going up the hill outside of the dorm...
This was the street the dorm was on...
This sign says "Confines of the Snail Contrada"....every contrada had these signs on their walls - differing according to the appropriate contrada of course...
Church in Siena....Santa Maria Assunta (Most Holy Mary of the Assumption)... That is black and white marble...Siena's city colours...
Il Campo...
Bibo....Awesome bar we would get coffee in the morning, Piedine at lunch and the occasional late-night snack...
Bibo...
I know this looks like a pita with spinach and cheese but its NOT...Piedine are special sandwiches made of some flat focaccia bread, spinach and ricotta (well, this one) there are so many varieties...they make me happy and I can only find the good ones in Italy, Siena and Rimini in particular...
Now that I'm hungry........I gotta get outta here and try to recreate this!!!
Till next time,
Pink and Sparkles.
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