Zuppa di Porri e Bietole ~ Leek and Swiss Chard Soup

When we think of an Italian recipe, we think of the many tomato sauces incorporated in the main dishes.  Visiting my husband's Italian family in Europe a few years ago, we enjoyed many different Italian foods including dishes without tomatoes.

Since we love eating leeks, I thought it would be nice to serve this soup to my family. Adding the Arborio rice will give the soup a pleasant texture although any rice will do. With nice challah on the side, and an extra big green salad, it will make a lovely Shabbat dinner.

Ingredients
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
4 small leeks or 2 big leeks, cut into ½ inch slices
1 lb Swiss chard, cut into 1 inch pieces
12 cups chicken stock
1 cup Arborio rice or other medium grain rice
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions
In a large pot over low heat, melt butter with olive oil. Add leeks and cook stirring occasionally until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and stock. Raise the heat to medium and bring to a simmer and cook until the chard wilts. Stir occasionally. This may take about 10 minutes.

Add the rice and salt and pepper. Cover and cook over low heat until the rice is tender for about 20 minutes. Stir in the cheese. Adjust and add other herbs or spices as you desire.   Serve soup immediately.


Serves 8

This recipe was taken from William Sonoma - Savoring Italy

Matzo Ball Soup

This post is written by Leah our daughter.

As a cultural assignment for my French class, I prepared a dish that was part Jewish and part French. While searching on the internet for recipes, many of the links led to a book by Joan Nathan called Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France. It had recently come out, and therefore, my nearby library was still in the process of obtaining it. I put the book on hold (it is still not on hold yet). Thankfully, Mamie (my mother) did another Google search and found two recipes for me, one of which is described below. It is actually an adapted version of a recipe from Joan Nathan’s book.

Spicy Sweet Potato and Barley Soup

This hearty Spicy Sweet Potato and Barley Soup is a meal in itself. Sometimes we choose to include a green salad before eating soups and sometimes a bowl of soup with some bread suffices. Keep in mind we always make enough for a second bowl. If you have some extra barley or rice on hand and are looking to make an easy and quick meal, then this might be what you are looking for. I decided to prepare this soup ahead of time and then transfer it into a crockpot at which time I added the cooked barley. The soup had time to thicken for about 2-3 hours before we sat down for our dinner meal.We do not include much meat in our food choices so this was a nice change.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (optional: other clean meats such as venison)

1 big onion chopped

8 cups water

3 medium to big sized sweet potatoes, diced to bite sized pieces

3 -4 big tomatoes diced or 2 14 ounce cans tomatoes

Black pepper to your taste

1 tsp salt or more to your taste

Cayenne pepper to your taste

Chili pepper to your taste

Other herbs such as basil, oregano, parsely can also be added

2 cups cooked barley

• Using a big pot which will hold at least 8 cups of water, add meat and brown, then drain off any fat.
• Add chopped onion and sautée for a few minutes.
• Add water, diced sweet potatoes and tomatoes, salt and spices. Bring the water and ingredients to an almost boil and then quickly reduce heat to medium and simmer about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
• Add barley to soup and let simmer for maybe ten more minutes or until barley has acclimated to desired soup heat. Add more spices if you desire more spicyness.  I like to add Braggs Amino Acids in my bowl just before eating.

We are a family of 4 (with two growing teens) and we have enough for two meals.


Humble yourselves in the sight of the Master, and He shall lift you up. James 4:10 

This recipe is shared with
Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet 

Much love ~ Carmen

Progression Soup ~ How Have You Stretched A Meal?

Have you ever prepared a meal for your family and ended up with leftovers? Ok, who hasn't.  And wanted to use up your left overs the following evening but needed to cook something extra to feed your family but  ended up with leftovers again? And the following evening you wanted to finish up the leftovers but needed to be extra creative to make the meal stretch once more?

A dear friend of our family shared with us about how he experienced the same meal planning tips and called it his “progression meal”. I really like this term, don’t you. As you keep stretching your meal and move forward, meal after meal by adding new foods to it, it just keeps getting better and better tasting. You could refer to this as a progressional meal or even a “progressive” meal.  I personally like "progression meal."

  Dictionary Definition for the word ‘Progression’

   -  the act of progressing; forward or onward movement.

   -  a passing successively from one member of a series to the next; succession.

Last week I prepared chicken pieces in homemade tomato sauce on a bed of rice. We ended with quite a bit of chicken in tomato sauce left over but not much rice. The next evening I decided to reheat the chicken and tomato sauce and made a new batch of barley to go with the chicken and left the rice out for another meal. The following evening, I’ll be honest, I just didn’t feel like making supper and needed a quick fix and nutritious meal. Well what could be easier but to not have to cook anything and just prepare a soup. This is how I prepared my progression soup.

• With about ten cups of water in my pot, I added some organic vegetable broth powder,
• added some already cut-up leeks, white and green parts that I had in the freezer
• added left over chicken and tomato sauce(maybe one cup’s worth)
• left over rice and barley
• added some frozen corn and green beans
• One can of organic diced tomato
• Some frozen already cooked beans( about 2 cups)
• I also added some herb seasonings to taste.
• I let this heat up and it was ready in less than 20 minutes.

Yes our two teen children love vegetables, Yeah!  What a great way to use up your left overs and not waste food and still make it taste great. 

I’ve prepared this kind of meal many times before and I know you have as well. Please share with us your “progression” meal tips and what has worked for you.  Its is fun to hear from others what creations we can come up with at the last minute!

This was shared with:
Tuesday Twister at GNOWFLINS
Hearth and Soul at A Moderate Life  
Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at  Simply Sugar and Gluten Free


Blessings ~ Carmen