strawberries in paris

Pappa al pomodoro with meatballs

So Abuelita has also recently been inspired enough by the Back to Basics TV Show to pick up Ina’s new book! I was perusing through her copy and found two soup recipes when I was visiting her that I thought would be perfect for a Sunday (and Monday) meal!

So in an attempt to make this a more hearty meal I decided to make the meatballs from the Italian wedding soup recipe. On the first night, Ned was inspired to make a mushroom cream sauce with reconstituted wood ear mushrooms and that was very delicious. The meatballs went great in the soup on the second night of feasting. This soup definitely tastes better after sitting for a night so if you decide to go healthy like me, make it the night before you eat it!

Soup

Ingredients:

1.2 cup olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped
3 medium carrots, diced
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and medium diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups, 1 inch diced ciabatta bread, crusts removed
2 28 oz cans good plum tomatoes, diced
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup chopped basil leaves
s&p
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan chees

Directions:

1) Heat the oil over medium. Add the onions, carrots, fennel and garlic and cook for 10 minutes over medium-low heat, until tender.
2) Add the ciabatta cubes and cook for 5 more minutes.
3) Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 tbsp salt and 1.5 tsp pepper.
4) Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.

Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey meat
2/3 cup bread crumbs (mine were wegmans seasoned)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
3 tbsp milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
s&p

Directions:
Mix everything together (hands work great!) and then shape into 1 inch meatballs. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (stick under broiler for a sec to get extra brown!)