Italian Wedding Soup: Minestra Maritata

So why exactly is it called Italian Wedding Soup? 

If you have the sort of mind like mine, where you have to know these sorts of things, it's because the ingredients go so well together that they are said to be married, or maritata.  I love the idea of a traditional soup eaten at Italian weddings, but sadly that's a no-go.  Too bad:  I had a wonderful image of a raucous Italian wedding party, sitting on a hillside near a vineyard, doling out ladlefuls of this soup.  Sigh.

As the weather gets rainier and we slide toward fall, my thoughts turn naturally toward steamy, chunky bowls of soup.  What--yours don't?  This soup has the added advantage of being chock-full of vegetables and reasonably healthy.  Even my toughest critic, Ingrid, seated herself at the table in anticipation.



No, she doesn't get to eat people food, but she thinks she should.

Another advantage of this soup is that it goes together fast, making it perfect for a weeknight.  It was also a great excuse to use two of my favorite ingredients, fresh Italian chicken sausage and pepperoncini peppers.

Minestra Maritata

Adapted from A16 Food + Wine

1 bunch Swiss chard

1/2 head Napa cabbage
2 celery stalks
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp. dried red chile flakes, or 1 small red pepperoncino pepper
1 lb. fresh chicken sausage, chopped into small chunks
6 plus cups of low-sodium chicken broth
Optional:  good-quality parmesan for grating

Start a large pot of water boiling with a pinch of salt.  I recommend using a stockpot or other heavy-bottomed pot.

Slice the stems away from the leaves of the Swiss chard.  Roughly chop both the leaves and the stems, but keep them in separate piles because they have different cooking times.

Roughly chop the Napa cabbage into small chunks and set aside.  Dice the two stalks of celery.

Once the water is boiling, add the chard stems and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until firm but not tough.  Remove the stems with a wire strainer or a slotted spoon, drain and set aside.  Then add the chard leaves, and cook for a scant 3 minutes until just wilted.  Lift those from the water with the same strainer, drain and set aside.  Finally, add the cabbage and cook for 3 minutes.  Likewise, lift the cabbage out of the water, drain and set aside.  The cooked vegetables are combined from this time forward, so you can have them all together.

Drain the pot and give it a rinse.  Put it back on medium heat and add all of the olive oil.  When the oil is warmed, add the celery, garlic, bay leaf and red pepper.  Stir occasionally until the garlic is just golden and starting to soften.

Add the chunks of sausage and stir until browned and they renders their fat.  Then add the greens and 4 cups of chicken broth to start.  If your soup, like mine, looks like more stew than soup and you want a brothier mix, add stock to the desired consistency.  Taste the soup to see what it needs:  I added a sprinkle of fresh-ground black pepper.

Cook for 5 minutes and remove from heat.  This is especially good if served in warm bowls with a sprinkling of good parmesan melted over it.

Serves 4-6 as a main course;  up to 8 as a first course or appetizer. 

Recommended side:  Sauteed zucchini with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  I also made "croutons" with chunks of two-day old, toasted baguette.

Suggested wine pairing:  Rosé, gewurtztraminer, or bone-dry riesling.

Kenai Adventures

The fun thing about traveling in Alaska...is you can't always plan to get there.  Forces often conspire in the form of weather or roads or fires to keep you to get where you're going, much less getting on schedule.  Such was the case last Friday.  A caravan of cars set out for Kenai, on the Kenai Peninsula, for a weekend of dipnetting and barbecues on the beach.  Most of the highways in Alaska are two-lane, and some are even unpaved.  Just past Girdwood, my husband, my friend Krista and I heard that the Sterling Highway was being shut down due to two accidents.  Trying to make the best of things, we doubled back to Girdwood and decided to stop at Jack Sprat for a glass of wine and to wait to see if the highway was going to be reopened.  We had been eating junk food in the car, but discovered that Jack Sprat was serving arancini, delicious balls of risotto fried and served with a tomato pesto and argula simply dressed with olive oil and salt.  Delicious, particularly with the glass of albarino I had with them.

All photos courtesy of Krista Scully

We went back to Anchorage for the night, and the highway reopened at 2 a.m.  The next day, we set out on a gray and rainy morning for Kenai.  Even though the plans for a beach BBQ were looking unlikely, we planned to set up in a friend's kitchen for a dinner.  A stop in Soldotna, just shy of Kenai, revealed the most gorgeous rainbow chard I've ever seen:

Despite the weather, the beach was packed with dipnetters.  I hadn't realized that it was acceptable in Kenai to head and fillet your fish on the beach and leave the remains--so much for bear danger!  For dinner, we had fresh salmon, chard with soffritto, arugula and fennel salad and the beloved burrata for dessert. 

The chard was a huge hit.  Here's the recipe:

Braised Chard with Soffritto
Adapted from the A16 Food + Wine Cookbook

Soffritto:
1 head garlic, cloves removed and peeled
Half a small can of anchovies in olive oil, rinsed
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water

Place all of the ingredients in a small saucepan;  bring to a simmer.  Once the garlic is tender, about 45 minutes, remove from heat and puree the soffritto with an immersion blender or in a food processor.  You can also roughly mash the ingredients with a fork or the back of a wooden spoon.

Chard:
1 bunch chard, either green or rainbow
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt to taste

Using kitchen shears, cut the ribs  in 1/2 inch pieces.  Keep them separate, and then cut the leaves in 1/2 inch pieces as well.  Bring a pot of salted water to boil and plunge the ribs in for about six minutes, or until desired tenderness.  The chard will continue to cook after it has been removed from the water.  Skim the rib pieces out and then cook the leaves for approximately four minutes.  Empty the cooking pot and toss all the chard with the lemon juice, soffritto and salt to taste. 

This has a subtle salty, tangy flavor that will convert even the most resistant non-greens lovers.