Hello all! On tonights menu is a nice and light soup that's pretty figure friendly and has great flavor. According to Rachael, she came up with this recipe, quite comically, out of laziness. She was home by herself, didn't feel well, was a rainy day and was going to make Minestra. For any that might not know what Minestra is, it's a traditional Italian soup that generally has white cannellini beans and escarole, otherwise known as "Beans and Greens". Shockingly, Rachael didn't have any cannellini beans at home and didn't want to go to the store so she came up with this recipe. Here is Rachael Ray's "Broken Spaghetti Soup with Escarole".
So the first thing you deal with is the broken spaghetti. To start the soup, melt a couple tablespoons of butter in the soup pot over medium heat. When the butter foams up, you can break up 3/4 of the 1 lb. of spaghetti noodles and add them to the pot. The leftover 1/4 of a pound of pasta can be reserved for another dish called Green Harissa Chicken Thighs that will be featured in my blog soon, or if you are going to follow the Week in a Day strategy you can toast up the whole pound and simply save the 1/4 pound when you add the toasted spaghetti to the soup the night you serve. You want to let them toast until they get a nice golden color. Now, not every noodle will turn that golden brown color. If you waited for all of them to toast, you'd end up with burnt spaghetti noodles long before they toasted. Also, watch them closely, they will go from toasted to burnt very quickly and then you have to start over. Once they are toasted, remove them from the pot and set them aside. This recipe was taken from Rachael's show Week In A Day and is intended to be made ahead and reheated and served later in the week. If you are going to do that, store the cooled, toasted spaghetti in a container until the night you are going to serve.
Once the pasta is removed from the pot, add a couple tablespoons of EVOO and add in the onion, garlic and herb bundle and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Unlike me, make sure you have all the fresh herbs in your fridge. This herb bundle is made from fresh Thyme and fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley. I was positive that I had fresh Thyme in the fridge so I didn't pick any up at the store. Once I started making the soup, I opened the package only to realize that the Thyme had all turned black except for one lone sprig. So, I tied that sprig in with the parsley and tossed it in. To bring out the Thyme flavor, I added a good pinch of ground thyme. But, be more prepared than I was and make sure you have what you need ;). Once the onions have sweated out and are nice and soft, you are ready to add in the escarole.
Escarole is a bitter green that is part of the endive family and is high in folic acid, fiber, and vitamins A and K, so it's a great way to get some good nutrition. Like most bitter greens, escarole wilts way down when cooked. So to handle the escarole, take the large bundle or the two small to medium bundles and coarsely chop them. You are going to have a mountain of greens on your cutting board. Don't panic. Again, they are going to cook way down when you wilt them into the soup pot. So once you chop them, add them to the pot and season with nutmeg. I also seasoned with salt and pepper. Like Rachael, I find if you season every layer of a dish, you end up pretty close to hitting the nail on the head when the dish is through. The escarole will wilt down in just a few minutes. Once it is wilted, add in a quart of chicken stock and two cups of water. Again, this meal is intended as a make ahead meal. If you are doing that, this is when you would let the soup completely cool and store it. If you are serving it when you cook it, you are now ready to add in the spaghetti.
Tuen the heat up a bit and bring the soup to a gentle boil. At that point, add in the spaghetti and cook it to al dente. When the spaghetti has finished cooking, you can turn off the heat and add in the lemon zest and juice. Serve the soup up in a shallow bowl with some grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. This was a nice, light soup that was surprisingly hearty. While it's a meat free dish, you could absolutely make it a vegan dish by replacing the butter with EVOO, the chicken stock with veggie stock and by omitting the parmigiano-reggiano cheese. I, am not a vegan. So, mine was meat free but by no means vegan. This one was really tasty and one i'd definitely make again. Hope you all enjoy it? Buon appetito!!
Recipe:
This recipe was featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the following link.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/broken-spaghetti-soup-with-escarole.html
So the first thing you deal with is the broken spaghetti. To start the soup, melt a couple tablespoons of butter in the soup pot over medium heat. When the butter foams up, you can break up 3/4 of the 1 lb. of spaghetti noodles and add them to the pot. The leftover 1/4 of a pound of pasta can be reserved for another dish called Green Harissa Chicken Thighs that will be featured in my blog soon, or if you are going to follow the Week in a Day strategy you can toast up the whole pound and simply save the 1/4 pound when you add the toasted spaghetti to the soup the night you serve. You want to let them toast until they get a nice golden color. Now, not every noodle will turn that golden brown color. If you waited for all of them to toast, you'd end up with burnt spaghetti noodles long before they toasted. Also, watch them closely, they will go from toasted to burnt very quickly and then you have to start over. Once they are toasted, remove them from the pot and set them aside. This recipe was taken from Rachael's show Week In A Day and is intended to be made ahead and reheated and served later in the week. If you are going to do that, store the cooled, toasted spaghetti in a container until the night you are going to serve. Once the pasta is removed from the pot, add a couple tablespoons of EVOO and add in the onion, garlic and herb bundle and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Unlike me, make sure you have all the fresh herbs in your fridge. This herb bundle is made from fresh Thyme and fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley. I was positive that I had fresh Thyme in the fridge so I didn't pick any up at the store. Once I started making the soup, I opened the package only to realize that the Thyme had all turned black except for one lone sprig. So, I tied that sprig in with the parsley and tossed it in. To bring out the Thyme flavor, I added a good pinch of ground thyme. But, be more prepared than I was and make sure you have what you need ;). Once the onions have sweated out and are nice and soft, you are ready to add in the escarole.
Escarole is a bitter green that is part of the endive family and is high in folic acid, fiber, and vitamins A and K, so it's a great way to get some good nutrition. Like most bitter greens, escarole wilts way down when cooked. So to handle the escarole, take the large bundle or the two small to medium bundles and coarsely chop them. You are going to have a mountain of greens on your cutting board. Don't panic. Again, they are going to cook way down when you wilt them into the soup pot. So once you chop them, add them to the pot and season with nutmeg. I also seasoned with salt and pepper. Like Rachael, I find if you season every layer of a dish, you end up pretty close to hitting the nail on the head when the dish is through. The escarole will wilt down in just a few minutes. Once it is wilted, add in a quart of chicken stock and two cups of water. Again, this meal is intended as a make ahead meal. If you are doing that, this is when you would let the soup completely cool and store it. If you are serving it when you cook it, you are now ready to add in the spaghetti.Tuen the heat up a bit and bring the soup to a gentle boil. At that point, add in the spaghetti and cook it to al dente. When the spaghetti has finished cooking, you can turn off the heat and add in the lemon zest and juice. Serve the soup up in a shallow bowl with some grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. This was a nice, light soup that was surprisingly hearty. While it's a meat free dish, you could absolutely make it a vegan dish by replacing the butter with EVOO, the chicken stock with veggie stock and by omitting the parmigiano-reggiano cheese. I, am not a vegan. So, mine was meat free but by no means vegan. This one was really tasty and one i'd definitely make again. Hope you all enjoy it? Buon appetito!!Recipe:
This recipe was featured on Rachael Ray's Week In A Day and can be found at the following link.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/broken-spaghetti-soup-with-escarole.html
No comments:
Post a Comment