Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [48]
Like risi e bisi, the Venetian rice and peas soup, which precedes this recipe, this one is fairly thick, but it is not quite a risotto. It should be runny enough to require a spoon.
For 4 to 6 servings
Smothered cabbage (It can be prepared 2 or 3 days ahead of time.)
3 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth, OR 1 cup canned beef broth diluted with 2 cups water OR 1½ bouillon cubes dissolved in 3 cups warm water
⅔ cup rice, preferably Italian Arborio rice
2 tablespoons butter
⅓ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Put the cabbage and broth into a soup pot, and turn on the heat to medium.
2. When the broth comes to a boil, add the rice. Cook uncovered, adjusting the heat so that the soup bubbles at a slow, but steady boil, stirring from time to time until the rice is done. It must be tender, but firm to the bite, and should take around 20 minutes. If while the rice is cooking, you find the soup becoming too thick, dilute it with a ladleful of homemade broth. If you are not using homemade broth, just add water. Remember that when finished, the soup should be rather dense.
3. When the rice is done, before turning off the heat, swirl in the butter and the grated Parmesan, stirring thoroughly. Taste and correct for salt, and add a few grindings of black pepper. Ladle the soup into individual plates, and allow it to settle just a few minutes before serving.
Minestrina Tricolore—Potato Soup with Carrots and Celery
WHEN I BECAME a wife and, by necessity, a cook, this was one of the first dishes I learned to make. Decades have gone by in which I have had my hand in uncounted dozens of other soups, but I turn still to this minestrina—little soup—for its charm, its delightful contrast of textures, its artless goodness, its never-failing power to please.
For 4 to 6 servings
1½ pounds potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons onion chopped fine
3 tablespoons carrot chopped fine
3 tablespoons celery chopped fine
5 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
1 cup milk
2 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth, OR ½ cup canned beef broth diluted with 1 ½ cups water
Salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Crostini, fried bread squares
1. Peel the potatoes, rinse them in cold water, and cut them up in small pieces. Put them in a soup pot with just enough cold water to cover, put a lid on the pot, and turn on the heat to medium high. Boil the potatoes until they are tender, then purée them, with their liquid, through the large holes of a food mill back into the pot. Set aside.
2. Put the butter, oil, and chopped onion in a skillet and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the chopped carrot and celery and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well. Don’t cook them long enough to become soft because you want them noticeably crisp in the soup.
3. Transfer the entire contents of the skillet to the pot with the potatoes. Turn on the heat to medium, and add the grated Parmesan, the milk, and the broth. Stir and cook at a steady simmer for several minutes until the cooking fat floating on the surface is dispersed throughout the soup. Don’t let the soup become thicker than cream in consistency. If that should happen, dilute it with equal parts of broth and milk. Taste and correct for salt. Off heat, swirl in the chopped parsley, then ladle into individual plates or bowls. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan and crostini on the side.
Potato Soup with Smothered Onions
For 6 servings
2 pounds boiling potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½ pounds onions, sliced very thin
Salt
3½ cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth, OR ½ cup canned beef broth diluted with 3 cups water
3 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese at the table
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into ½-inch cubes, rinse in cold water, and set aside.
2. Put the butter, oil, all