Spring Greens and Italian Wedding Soup

 While the clothes were soaking up the early Spring sun and get their drying done, I thought I'd venture into the winter mulched garden to grab some freebie greens that I noticed were peeking up through the leaf mulch.  First up was the Giant Red Indian Mustard.  Don't let its diminutive size fool you, this mustard green packs a lot of flavor and tastes best when the leaves are smaller.  This one reseeded itself from last years planting and I'm all the more happy about it as it's one less thing I have to plant!  

Giant Red Indian Mustard

The next green on the list is my swiss chard.  I'm thinking this is its second year as it has come up in the garden in the same place I planted it last year.  It's a bienniel, so it will go to seed, but not before I've used it's leaves in a variety of dishes.

What's the nutritional deal with chard?  Well, it's a good source of Thiamin, Folate and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.  

I've already added these greens to my chicken noodle soup, but I realized that swiss chard is also very good in "Italian Wedding Soup."  So, I'm including a recipe of the soup because it's so tasty and the swiss chard adds to its delicious flavor.  

So, soak up the scrumptious color of this green and try whipping up the soup.  If you don't want to use chard (you can find it at most produce isles), then spinach is a highly respectable substitute. Enjoy! 

Swiss Chard

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 large egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

12 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound of swiss chard, coarsely chopped (1 pound of spinach  would be a good substitution)

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and greens and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Note:  Not into making meatballs?  Use some mild or hot Italian sausage as a substitute.  Simply crumble up and cook until done and then add to soup.  You can also just use a small pasta shape and cook in the broth if you don't want to use the egg/cheese noodles. 

(Original recipe courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis, Food Network)

Classic Garden Spaghetti Meets "Cucurbita pepo L. var. turbinata".

Canned, dried, and overwintered( squash)produce from the garden

    It's still March and that means crockpots are still a viable form of cooking. As I was going to be gone all afternoon, it always proves to be a great solution for supper. 
    So, here goes the supper prep.  It was going to be the classic spaghetti sauce...with a twist.  (That ridged orange object on the right hand side should clue you in as to the twist!)
Yep, the classic ingredients of tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, herbs and some dried tomatoes.....along with this beauty!  I had a few of these left over from the winter and thought, why not add them to the mix?  After all, squash is full of beta carotene and has that sweet nutty flavor profile, and that would be great in my sauce.  Besides, it's an absolutely amazing way to add extra nutrients and fiber to the meal without the family being aware of its existence.  

Sounds a bit cruel I know to add mysterious vegetables to a seemingly traditional meal.  But, no problem here!  My family was very accustomed to my "padding" the nutritional profile of our dinners.  As long as it tasted good, they were very unconcerned.  How did I know it was going to taste okay?  Elementary, my dear Watson.  I knew it's sweet flavor would not only sweeten the sauce up a bit, but would also help to thicken it up.  So, I washed, dried, poked a few holes in it and micro'd it until a knife could be easily inserted.  

I then cut it in half, scooped out the seeds and then the pulp.  I added the pulp to a food processor and with a little sauce, I pureed it up to add back into the sauce.  Enter now one circa 1989 crockpot (notice the mauve and country blue flowers?)  Hey, this crockpot knows how to cook and why add to landfill when it does a perfectly good job? Plus, I must confess, I love crockpots and have a 4 quart AND a 7 quart size.  I would have more, but we would need to build an addition!  With all that being said, it was time to combine!

I also added some other garden goodies...dehydrated peppers and tomatoes.  These are also great to snack on as well~especially when you're hungry cooking. My own dried garden herbs were the last thing to add.

Oh, I couldn't forget my pre-made, homemade frozen meatballs as well as some rosemary and tarragon that I froze for just such an occasion. The tarragon is a bit of a secret to our sauce.  One day I noticed it as an ingredient to a bottled sauce we really liked (what we didn't like on the bottled sauce was all the sodium and syrups.) It really gave it a nice "sausage-y" flavor and we've used it all winter.  Good thing I have plenty more tarragon in the garden.

 Next, add some tomato paste, season with salt, pepper and sweeten to taste. Let it crockpot away for 4-5 hours so the cooker can do it's magic transformation cooking thing.

It all added up to one late night dinner that was rich, hearty and delicious!  And, if I may say so myself, secretly nutritious!!