I didn’t get to the Asian grocery store this week, but I did find a Clear Japanese Soup, a Japanese Miso Soup, and a Chinese Egg Drop Soup in my Soup cookbook that I want to make sometime.
I also want to learn how to make Italian Wedding Soup, so I searched on-line for a recipe and learned a bit about my heritage and ancestral language in the process. According to About.com’s Italian Cuisine with Kyle Phillips, “Tuscans don't serve a specific soup at weddings (but) I found a discussion of minestra maritata in Jeannne Caròla Francesconi's La Cucina Napoletana and realized the dish has nothing to do with the happy day -- wedding soup is a mistranslation. To say two things go well together in Italian, one can say si sposono bene (they're well married) -- or, more to the south, that they're maritati, i.e., married. The combination of greens and meat in a clear broth certainly does work well and deserves to be called maritata -- no wedding involved.” I haven’t fixed it yet, but I did buy some “acini di pepe” pasta to use in it when the time comes.
I also learned there are more than 300 types of pasta, with nearly four times as many names for them. For example, I bought a box of pasta this week called “Rings,” and I learned—when I was browsing on-line pasta sites--that small pasta rings used for soup are named “anelli” or “aniline.” I cooked them and added them to some (gasp!) canned tomato basil soup (which I’ve had in my cupboard since before Christmas, so I couldn’t let it go to waste) that I made one day this week.
Several weeks ago, I noted I had come across several recipes that called for sea salt, and I didn’t know what that was. This week, I learned what it is. In the March 2004 issue of “Real Simple” magazine, there’s an article titled “Salt of the Earth: Your mother’s pantry staple does global duty—as a condiment, a cleaning aid, and more.” It shows pictures of bowls of Kosher Salt, Crystalline Sea Salt, Flaked Sea Salt, Fleur De Sel (a special occasion table salt), Rock Salt, and Pickling Salt, and under each photo it tells what to use it for, its origin, texture, and where to buy it and for how much.
In this same issue of “Real Simple,” there’s also an article titled “Tomatoes: In the Can,” which shows pictures and has descriptions of red, ripe and ready to use tomatoes in six different ways: whole, crushed, puree, chopped, sauce, and paste. It also compares seven different brands of canned tomatoes and offers guidelines for choosing and using canned tomatoes. Unfortunately, the article doesn’t talk about how to can your own, so I’ll have to learn about that another time.
My friend CS has been really sick this past week with severe asthma and allergies that started turning into bronchitis. It’s been difficult for her to talk, so she e-mailed me and asked if there’s any chance I “know how to make a good Jewish Mother Chicken Soup (or any other ‘get well’ variety, i.e., simple and bland) to get me better?” My Soup cookbook has a recipe for Indonesian Chicken Noodle Soup, but there’s nothing bland about that. My box of chicken stock has a recipe for Easy Chicken Tortellini Soup, so I took parts of both of these recipes and came up with my own Chicken Soup for the Sick Friend’s Soul and Health. Another huge success! Not only was it delicious, she said it did the trick and made her all better!
New experiences this week included poaching chicken pieces and preparing zucchini by finely slicing diagonally with a vegetable peeler. Truth be told, not only have I never before poached chicken, I’ve never done anything to chicken but eat it when someone else has fixed it. My Soup cookbook said to bring the stock to a boil, add the chicken pieces, reduce the heat, and poach gently until tender. I bought some boneless, skinless Free Range chicken breasts, chopped them up, and put them in the boiling chicken stock; then I added the sliced zucchini and the “acini di pepe” pasta which I had decided would be good in this, and let everyone season their own soup to taste with salt, pepper, dill weed and basil. It was a hit!
"Scientists say they have confirmed what grandmothers have known for centuries -- that chicken soup is good for colds....Some researchers have suggested...perhaps the steam from the soup, or the chicken fat, may play a role in soothing inflamed airways. (Dr. Stephen) Rennard said this was possible. He also said there could be a 'TLC'...factor. 'If you know somebody prepared soup for you by hand, that might have an effect.'"
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