Lightened Up Italian Wedding Soup

Please pay no attention to the fact that my work table is apparently crooked! This Italian Wedding Soup was so easy and so fast! It's a little bit on the "light and brothy" side for Harry, but I made up a batch of calzones to go with it and the meal was hearty and satisfying.

I love Italian Wedding Soup, but I've only ever had it in restaurants. So, I had to turn to the web looking for inspiration. The first recipe I found via Pinterest turned me off - it suggested adding beaten eggs to the finished soup, similar to Hot & Sour or Egg Drop Soup. That definitely didn't ring any bells for me so I kept searching. I actually found this one at Cooksdotcom and it gave me a good starting point.

I had our homemade chicken stock in the fridge but decided to go with canned vegetable broth instead to cut down the fat content. I've made my own vegetable stock but I'm usually money ahead to use the canned stuff (very rare!). I used our own meatball mix that I froze in bulk for this purpose, but you could easily use turkey meatballs to cut down on the fat some more or frozen meatballs of your pleasure. The seasonings in the meatballs were just right to flavor the broth and I only added a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

I'm starting with raw meatballs and borrowing a tip from my friend Pam - she never browns her meatballs before adding them to sauce or soup. After the broth came to a simmer, I gently added the meatballs and remembered to stir gently so I did break them up. They cooked beautifully and I think it helped them release their flavors.

I'm always trying to sneak vegetables into our meals and this soup is no exception. I knew we probably wouldn't eat a whole bunch (head?) of spinach before it went bad and didn't want to go to heavy with it in here. We were in a Kroger that had a salad bar so I just bought enough to tightly fill a one-cup measure. Hey, it only cost 23 cents!

And the rest of the veggies I snuck in - every little bit helps!

Lightened-Up Italian Wedding Soup Recipe

1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
3 cans (15-ish ounces) vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 pound small meatballs
1/2 cup dry orzo (or broken spaghetti)
Kosher salt and fresh-ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup fresh leaf spinach

In a medium saucepan, saute the celery, carrot and onion in olive oil just until softened. Add the vegetable broth and water, then bring it to a simmer.

Gently add the meatballs, then allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Increase the heat to medium.

Add the orzo, stirring gently and cook until orzo is al dente, about 10 minutes. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the spinach just before serving.If you're feeling really indulgent, feel free to top the Italian Wedding Soup with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Twelfth Night and Muffuletta

So maybe it isn't the best picture but it's the best one I had. A darn-close-to-New-Orleans-authentic Muffuletta with a side salad. The onions in the middle are definitely a Debbie & Harry thing and we just kind of prefer to warm it in the oven. This is honestly one of Harry's favorite meals and while the olive salad needs to be prepped at least one day before for the best flavor, putting the sandwich together takes no time at all.

So what's all this Twelfth Night stuff? Well, January 6 is an important date in religious customs, marking the Feast of the Epiphany. Christians celebrate the pronouncement that the baby Jesus is the savior from the Three Wise Men. It is written that the kings had traveled for 12 days before reaching Bethlehem, so with the establishment of December 25 as the "official" birthday, 12 days brings us to January 6.

In older times, Twelfth Night kicked off "the season" - weeks of parties and balls leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. I think you can guess where I'm leading with this.

January 6 also marks the official beginning to the Carnival season that will end with Mardi Gras. In 2012, the season will be a little shorter than last year as Ash Wednesday falls on February 22 this year. So, there will be less time to celebrate the season with Muffuletta and King Cake (coming soon) and Po'boys and...

My preferred way to buy most of the ingredients for my Muffuletta olive salad is at the olive bar at the store. This recipe will make enough olive salad for two muffulettas and I've kept it in the fridge for up to a month. My friend Angie has a recipe for homemade Italian Giardiniera for home canning and it really is quite easy and quite good.

You don't have to chop the olives and all of the other ingredients super-small. It might look as though I've filled 12-cup food processor, but our model has a mini-bowl that sits on the top of the big bowl. For me, it works perfectly. This is one of the rare times that Harry will let me use "his" food processor.

All mushed up! I pulse 4 or 5 times and use my spatula to scrape it down a bit after the third time.

Parsley, oregano and red pepper flakes. I use about a quarter teaspoon and it adds a nice spice without adding a lot of heat. Of course, if you're allergic to red pepper leave it out.

Here's that funky color again! I've mixed together the minced olives, vegetables, spices and red wine vinegar, then added enough extra virgin olive oil to cover it - about one cup.

Yep - smear the olive salad all over the sliced Muffuletta bread as thick as you like. These are vegetables that Harry will willingly eat because they don't taste green.

Now it's time to play Picasso - alternate layers of the meats and cheeses. We put the sliced onion rings in the middle - it adds a nice crispness and sweetness in the middle of all that meat!

Unwrapped after 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The cheese is melted at the edge, the bread is nice and warm and it's OH SO GOOD! Yes, we made the bread - same recipe as the Hoagie Rolls we made on Bread Day but I cut it in half. Traditional NOLA-style dictates sesame seeds on top but we just sort of leave them off. Also - you don't have to bake your own bread. I will admit to a substitute a few times and if you aren't in NOLA, most local bakeries don't sell the traditional bread. Go to the store and buy a round Italian loaf - it's usually sold in the paper bags in the bakery. We cut the top inch or so off before we slice it in half, just to reduce the thickness.

Harry has had an insanely killer week at work - strange considering he had Monday off for the holiday. I think I'll have Dad run me to the store this afternoon so I can get the Muffuletta ingredients. I can make the olive salad tonight while I'm fixing something fast for dinner. Then, Harry can have his favorite meal after working all day on Saturday!

What a way to kick off Carnival!

Olive Salad for Muffuletta

5 cloves garlic, quartered
1 cup green olives, pitted (pimiento-stuffed are fine)
1/2 cup Kalamata Olives, pitted
1 cup Giardiniera, drained and gently chopped
1 tablespoon capers, drained (I prefer the small capers)
1/4 cup cocktail onions, drained
1 whole roasted red pepper, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (approximately)

Combine the garlic, olives, Giardiniera, capers, cocktail onions and roasted red pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel chopping blade. Pulse 4-6 times, stopping to scrape a couple of times, until the ingredients are well minced but not a paste. (Alternatively, you can mince everything on a cutting board with a very sharp knife and mix together - it tastes just as good!)
Add the spices and red wine vinegar and stir well to combine.
Add enough olive oil to cover the salad and stir well.
Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. I've kept this olive salad in the refrigerator for up to a month and trust me, it taste much better later than sooner.

Debbie & Harry's Almost-NOLA-style Muffuletta

1 loaf Muffuletta Bread or round Italian bread, sliced across the middle
One-half recipe of Olive Salad
4 ounces Genoa salami or sandwich pepperoni
4 ounces Capicola ham (spicy)
4 ounces regular ham (OK, for truly authentic you need Mortadella but we don't care for what's available here)
4 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese
4 ounces sliced provolone cheese
1 sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the two bread halves on a large piece of foil and smear them liberally with the olive salad. Layer the meat and cheese, alternating at each level. We use the onion rings as the middle layer.
Carefully turn the top half of bread over onto the Muffuletta. Wrap it in foil and heat in the oven for about 20-30 minutes. The traditional sandwich in New Orleans is served cold and one-fourth of the sandwich is a HUGE serving.

Spaghetti Sauce by the Gallon!

I love to cook but sometimes we're a little short on time. I love stocking the freezer with the good stuff so we don't fall back on mass-produced crap or think we have to pick up fast food. Double-duty cooking means you take a few extra minutes when preparing one meal to make enough for a second or more.

Hopefully, we'll have luck with growing our tomatoes and maybe score a deal like we did last year. Harry got an amazing price on about 120 pounds of tomatoes from a vendor at the Pataskala Farmers Market in August - $25. I turned most of it into Bloody Mary Mix but also made a couple of quarts of tomato sauce and froze some tomatoes after I peeled and seeded them. They were so good this winter but I'm completely out.

I'm already planning to make this sauce when the tomatoes come in and popping it in the freezer. If you aren't adventurous enough to start from fresh tomatoes, this version of spaghetti sauce uses the canned variety. Quit paying Ragu and Prego and whatever other companies are out there. Homemade spaghetti sauce is a breeze to make. My version makes one gallon for about $5 - how many meals will that make for your family?

Yeah, there's steam coming off of the onions, shallots and garlic. I forgot to take a picture when I used the red wine vinegar to deglaze the pan. Deglazing gets the yummy bits off of the bottom. Be careful to not scorch the garlic.

Here's the spices - seems like such a small amount for so much sauce. Do you know how hard it was for me to actually measure something while I wasn't baking?

After you add the tomatoes and the tomato sauce, throw in the spices. Stir it up, bring to a simmer and leave it on low heat until it's yummy.

I added our homemade meatballs to the mix. You can add browned ground beef or Italian sausage. My friend Trish uses meatballs, Italian sausage links cut into chunks and browned boneless country style pork ribs. Harry was in heaven when I described it to him!

Spaghetti and meatballs with a fresh-tasting sauce - even from canned tomatoes.

Get all the specifics for Double-Duty Cooking: All Purpose Italian Red Sauce by following that link.

Meatballs, meatballs, meatballs - subs & spaghetti!

A good meatball sub is hard to find. Harry loves them but doesn't like how the spheres roll out when you try to bite into it! These little beauties are perfect for spaghetti or subs.

I wrote this recipe and left out the veal for anyone who freaks out about eating baby cows. My preferred blend of meat is 2 parts ground beef, 1 part Italian sausage and 1 part ground veal. But, in the interest of all, no baby moo-moos were harmed in the making of this blog post. The photos you see are beef & sausage.

I prefer making a bunch at once and freezing them. Double-duty cooking is huge around here. Why just cook for one meal when I can put something in the freezer for a night that we might not have 2 or 3 hours to spend in the kitchen.

There it is in a big ol' bowl. Ground beef, sausage, our own homemade bread crumbs, some egg and spices and just a bit of Frank's Hot Sauce. I use granulated garlic for these so I don't have to worry about scorching garlic bits while I'm sauteing the meatballs.

All squished up and ready to be rolled. I wish I could find that picture of the mountain of meatballs in my food porn file. This recipe makes about 40 meatballs.

FOUND IT! YAY! It only took about 10 minutes to roll all these by hand.

 I love my collection of cast iron. The "youngest" I have was one that Mom gave me when I first got married in 1983. I needed it to make corn bread and it honestly took about 5 years before I could say it was truly "seasoned" properly. All of the rest of my collection is at least 70 years old.

Sorry - back to the meatballs. My friend Trish showed me how to make them years ago and how to keep them semi-round. Don't overcrowd the skillet - you need some room so cook them in batches. Roll each meatball into the skillet and shake the pan to keep them moving. You're not trying to cook them all the way through. I have another friend who has gotten the method down to not even brown the meatballs before adding them to her sauce. Must mind-meld with Pam Gaulin.

Isn't that pretty? No, I'm a dork and each time we've had meatballs subs, I keep forgetting to take a picture.

For all the ingredients follow the bouncing ball to Double Duty Cooking: Italian Meatballs

Yes, really. Frank's Original Red Hot DOES come in one gallon jugs! I try to catch it on sale at GFS Marketplace for around $10. If you don't have a GFS around you and you put that sh#t on everything, you can order it here.