the sunday after thanksgiving

a recipe in pictures (plus one that doesn't belong). and wasn't this thanksgiving one of the best?!! thought so.

Thanksgiving Before and After...

this is how our thanksgiving started - with a plan (we'll see how that plan plays out...).

BEFORE

coming soon....IT'S HERE!!

...the penultimate recipe for Italian Wedding Soup.

i usually get this started the night before serving it...while everyone's in the kitchen cleaning up from supper so i have a little company. i get the stock going and let the kids help form the tiny meatballs so that the next night, all we have to do is saute some carrots and onions, add the stock, throw in the meatballs, add the greens and stir in the cheese/egg mixture...which takes about 30-40 minutes.

first, i'll tell you how to make.....

the BROTH

it really is easy to make your own stock and will make all the difference in the flavor of this soup.
here are the items i typically include in the stock pot:
chicken pieces (necks and backs are often sold in the meat section for just this purpose)
onion
celery
carrot
peppercorns
bay leaves
herbs (thyme and parsley are particularly good in chicken stock)
s & p
some people include garlic, but i'm not a fan of it in this soup

throw whatever combination you have of these ingredients into a pot and add water. put it on the stove to simmer, cover the pot and go mix up the meatballs....

the meatball mixture

you'll need:

2 lbs of ground meat (i use equal parts pork, sirloin and veal)

3 eggs  

1 t pepper  

pinch of salt 

2 garlic cloves, minced 

2 c pecorino romano cheese  

1 c chopped fresh parsley  

1 c bread crumbs 

1/4 t nutmeg

mix it all together with your hands and form into small meatballs (3/4" in diameter). put them on a cookie sheet and back into the frig until tomorrow night.

leave the stock on the stove until you're ready for bed (an hour or two longer) then strain it into a container and pop it in the frig.

when you're ready to make the soup....pull out your soup pot and saute some carrots and onion, diced small (4 carrots and a whole onion) until they begin to sweat but don't let them brown. now add your strained chicken stock and bring it to a simmer. once it's simmering, drop in your meatballs (you can add some tiny pasta now too if you like - acini di pepe cooks relatively fast). once the meatballs start floating it's time to add the greens (spinach or escarole) that you've slivered. give that a few minutes before you stir in what i think is the most amazing part of this soup - the egg & cheese mixture.

stir together 3 eggs with 1 c romano cheese and then gently pout this into the simmering soup, stirring while you pour so the egg/cheese mixture forms threads (kind of like egg drop soup) throughout.

adjust seasonings and serve with additional grated romano cheese.

new york gluttony

just got back from a week in the city where i was taking a break from this frenzied north carolina pace of life. i'm not kidding. new york WAS relaxing...by comparison. because if you remove a woman from her husband, children, home, job and community for a week, with barely a days' notice, she will have a hard time figuring out how to fill the hours of her day. so i turned to food. it was the perfect companion.

each morning i'd visit the gastro-equivalent sites of match.com (yelp.com, seriouseats.com, nymag.com...) looking for my perfect afternoon 'date'. and boy did i find some winners.
here are a few:

the 'spicy redneck' from crif dogs, williamsburg

you're looking at a steamed dog, fluffy bun, chili and some creamy slaw that just wouldn't quit...requiring a minimum of four napkins at the ready before consuming.

falafel sandwich, spicy, with everything from oasis, williamsburg

there's no website for this little gem of a place, but that's no surprise as they don't need one. word of mouth seems to be enough. three bucks of mouth-popping flavor.

the classic #1, spicy at banh mi zon, lower east side

i don't care how 'last year' these crackery-crisp-bunned bits of vietnamese sandwich goodness are. i will never tire of them. never. 

my one venture with food-trucking at waffles and dinges, williamsburg

(follow their truck here)

the commodore's fried chicken, williamsburg

again, no website needed. but here's what the times had to say about this place: The Times.  i swear that chicken was fried in bacon fat.....

chicken feather found in one of our thighs. we called it 'macaroni'.

pastrami sandwhich

still hungry? then head on over with me to carnegie deli on 7th ave between 55th and 54th for a 4" pile of tender tasty hot pastrami on rye. and don't forget to slather on some of their famous mustard. served with two different kinds of pickles (not shown) and two of these napkins:

dirty napkin. but not as dirty as it was  2 minutes later...

and now for a little pallet cleansing:

giant pomegranate from the vorberts' in w'burg

and finally......

post-CSA pick-up, monday night supper @ the vorberts'

chef marcy can cook. she whipped up this belly-warming dish while maintaining dual conversations with  two very talkative onlookers. pasta, brussel sprout leaves, kale, red pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, cannellini, chicken broth, parm reg, toasted breadcrumbs and a whole lot of love. hope to share the recipe with you all soon!

pollo y dumplings

 (a.k.a. "the one dish i can make without a recipe in front of me")


i love chickens. even raised them once upon a time. but the name the english bestowed upon them is just wrong. say it....CHiCKen. it's all hard edges and staccato.

then you look at what the spanish language writers did. they clearly understood the grace and beauty of this humble bird...pollo. round and soft and smooth. as is this dish.

it's a combination of my favorite parts of two or three recipes...and if you happen to make a batch yourself...it just might be the best thing to hit your stomach in a long time.

our skinny home

the friend of one of our kiddos was asked by his mother to describe the house we had recently moved into...."it's kind of underweight" was what he said. i get it. our house seems bare in spots (like on the walls). plus, this child was likely comparing it to our previous home, the one full of the stuff that comes with having ten people occupy the same space for years and years. 

so when we moved to this new/old place 3 years ago, we purged.  i guess i like to think that the less crowded a space is with "things"....

....the more room there is for this:

and this:

even the seemingly malnourished front room...

is occasionally well fed:

may your home too eat well and often.

simple changes

we moved into a turn-of-the-century house whose only kitchen counter space was the drain board on either side of the metal 1950's sink unit. and that's just the beginning of what wasn't working for us in this new space. i could write paragraphs about the inspiration, planning and resources involved in our shoestring kitchen re-do project - but how 'bout i show you a few pictures instead?

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

now the whole family can be in here cooking, laughing, tasting and breathing together.