Recipe o' the until whenever I put another one up...

Since I'm a chef, I thought I oughta share some ancient Chinese secrets or at least some favorite family recipes. I'll add new ones when I want to. Feel free to make requests. I accept bribes. Get 'em while they're hot because I'll only put up one at a time and once it's gone, it's -well, then you'd have to email me and I'd have to get back to you and that's all very time consuming.

Italian Wedding Soup by MK Gentile


OUT OF A CAN???? My grandmother would turn over in her grave!!! Here's the recipe for REAL wedding soup.

Made in a stockpot starting with a gallon or two of water.

Ingredients:

Water - gallon or more. Fill the stockpot.
Chicken - I prefer 2 to 3 chicken breasts on the bone but any part of the chicken can be used, bones included.
Escarole - Curly, Italian. 3 to 4 heads, washed, parboiled, cooled and then chopped spinach style.
Onion - one medium to small, medium diced.
Celery - 2 or 3 small stalks, thinly sliced, may add some of the leaves but remove later.
Carrot - one large broken into a couple of pieces and removed once soup is done.
Parsley - if fresh chopped about 1/2 C. If dried, approx. 2 Tablespoons.
Chicken Bullion Cubes -4 to 6 depending on taste. If using a whole chicken, cut-up w/bones, may not need.
Salt and Pepper - to taste.
Meatballs - marble sized. Recipe to follow. Its only chicken soup without meatballs.

Boil the chicken in the water with the salt, pepper, onion, celery, carrot and parsley until the chicken is very tender. Constantly remove the scum and fat that accumulates on the boiling water. Remove the chicken and allow to cool. Once cooled, shred into stringy bite-sized pieces. Do not cut or chop...grandma would have a fit.

Once the chicken is shredded add back to water along with chopped escarole...do not substitute with spinach...you'll hate it. Allow to boil very slowly while you mix the meatball ingredients. You can mix ahead and refrigerate and add as last ingredient.

If you like pasta in you soup, we used Pastina...it looked like grains of rice. You need only to parboil (do not fully cook), drain and add to soup after the meatballs.

Meatballs: (This is the same for the golf ball-sized meatballs I make for spaghetti)
1lb. ground meat, 1/2lb. ground pork, 1/2lb. ground veal. Ratio is always 2:1:1
Bread crumbs - approx. one cup
Grated Romano cheese - approx. 1/2 cup
2 - 3 whole eggs
2-3 slices of old bread. I save the ends or stale stuff in the freezer until I make meatballs.

Next are all approximate...I don't measure so I'm guessing. Once mixed, if it tastes good you've added the right amounts.

1T of chopped garlic or more if you like garlicky. I use the kind in the jar with oil. Freshly chopped garlic would be about 3 cloves. Minced can be used also. You want tiny bits not slices.
2-3 T dried parsley
1-2 t Italian seasoning
2 t Oregano or more depending on how spicy you want them
1-3 t of salt or to taste
pepper to taste

Place all of the meat in a large bowl and make a well. Sprinkle on all of the seasonings and garlic. Add the cheese, then bread crumbs. Wet, then squeeze out the water from the slices of bread. Crumble on top of bread crumbs. You can skip this step but may need to add another egg. Then add a couple of eggs and mix everything but the meat...with your hands, no utensils here. Once well combined start mixing in the meat. The mixture should be moist to the touch just like a meatloaf. If too dry add another egg. Continue to mix with hands almost like making bread. John's job was to taste the raw mixture to see if it needed more salt, oregano, garlic or whatever. A small taste raw won't hurt...Italians have been doing it for centuries.

With two fingers, I pinch enough meat to roll a marble-sized meatball. As I make each one, I throw it into the slowly boiling soup (they cook in seconds). You'll probably make 50 to 100 meatballs or more. I like to have enough so that every spoonful has 2 or 3 meatballs. You can bake the tiny meatballs and freeze if it seems to be too many but its probably not.

Allow soup to slowly boil or simmer for at least a couple of hours. It will reduce some. Before serving, remove the carrot and celery leaves. Broth should be fairly clear and have a good, tangy chicken broth taste. It gets better the second or third time its reheated and served. You can freeze in freezer bags or containers.

Then, if you want to go whole hog. My grandmother used to make French Toast substituting the sugar with some grated Roman cheese. It was cooled and diced crouton size, served in a large bowl at the table and people could sprinkle a handful into the soup. We always had Romano cheese to add at the table also. Never Parmesan.

That's it. Buon Apetito!