Cooking Challenge 2010 - Italian Wedding Soup

One of my absolute favorite soups. I'm a sucker for Campbell's microwaveable bowls. This was a chance to make my own, healthier version.

Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
1/2 lb lean ground beef or 1/2 lb. meat loaf mix (ground beef and pork)
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
5 3/4 cups chicken broth
2 cups chopped escarole or chopped spinach
1/2 cup orzo pasta, uncooked
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
grated parmesan cheese

Directions
In medium bowl combine, meat, egg,bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, basil& onion powder; shape into 3/4" balls.

In large sauce pan, heat broth to boiling; stir in spinach, orzo, carrot & meatballs. Return to boil;reduce heat to medium. Cook at slow boil for 10 minutes or until orzo is tender. Stir frequently to avoid sticking. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

So, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here are a few of the preparation. 

 Chopped spinach and onions 

Getting the meatballs ready -- they are a beast to prepare!

They're tiny, but flavor packed

I made a batch of this last night and ate it for lunch today.

The meatballs are pretty amazing. I'm pretty proud of those. Very very flavorful.

As far as preparation goes, I grated some baby carrots I had on hand directly into my boiling broth, and added some diced red onion (also on hand) because the soup I usually buy has onion in it. I also added a little bit of garlic powder to my meatballs. And I used ground chicken meat and whole wheat breadcrumbs to make my meatballs.

The meatballs were a time consuming process. And I wish I had the patience to make them even tinier. I used acini di pepe pasta -- the small round pastaballs -- instead of orzo and I love them. I also added some extra broth this morning because overnight, the pasta soaked up a lot of it.

I love this soup and it feels good to be eating something I really like and know exactly what is in it. Plus, beyond the meatball labor, it was pretty easy and I get WAY MORE than Campbells will ever fit into those little microwavable bowls. I could always make the meatballs ahead of time, freeze them and have them on deck to pop into this simple soup. 

Probably not something I'll make every week, but nice to know how to do it.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Cooking Challenge 2010 - Linguine with Sausage and Cabbage

Linguine with Sausage and Cabbage
From Shape Magazine
Serves 4

2 chicken sausages (about 5 ounces total)
1 small red onion
1 4 ounce wedge of savoy cabbage (light green with crinkly leaves, milder flavor than green or red cabbage)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces of linguine

Bring a large covered pot of water to boil over high heat. Reduce to low and simmer covered until ready to cook pasta. Meanwhile, cut sausage into 1/4 inch thick diagonal slices, slice onion to make 1/2 cup, and shred cabbage to make 3 cups. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and cornstarch.

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Add sausage, reduce heat to medium, and cook 1 minute. Turn sausage and cook another minute. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil, onion and cabbage and saute 1 minute. Add broth and 1/4 cup of cold water; bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in cornstarch mixture and pepper. Cook, stirring until liquid is a little glossy, about 30 seconds. Set aside.

Return pasta water to a boil over high heat. Add linguine and cook uncovered according to package directions -- about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander. Add drained pasta to sausage and sauce in skillet and toss gently to combine. Divide among four plates and serve immediately.

Here's the finished dish:

So, some thoughts.

• I need more cabbage. I used 1/4 of a head of savoy cabbage because I didn't want to have a ton of cabbage. I should have used more. And I think I overcooked it a little bit. It was my first time cooking cabbage ever, but the ones in the picture in the magazine looked super green. Mine? Not so much.
• I used chicken sausage with rosemary. Very nice flavor. But I should have browned it a little more. I was trying to follow the recipe exactly though (well, sort of). Next time, I know to cook the sausage until it's brown like I like it.
  
• Fresh pasta is the jumpoff. It's like ramen, but better. And the best kind of pasta ever created. I think it's going to be my new thing. Right after I finish cooking all of this boxed pasta I have.
• The other plus about this dish: it apparently supplies half of my daily folate needs!
  

Overall, I really liked this dish. I didn't eat all of it because I put way too much pasta in it and I wanted more cabbage. But I will definitely make this again in the future. Shoot, I might give it another shot this week. I've got leftover pasta, onion and cabbage. And I think I've got some chicken sausage in the fridge!

Rating: **** (4 out of 5 stars)

Cooking Challenge 2010

I'm getting some help from some friends of mine to accomplish my goal of cooking more new things this year. A bunch of us have gotten together and decided that we'll do an e-mail chain with a new recipe each week. We'll post the recipe one day and the rest of us have a week to prepare the dish. Then, we weigh in with our thoughts on the dish, suggestions for preparation, etc.

Well, lucky readers, I'm going to share that wonderful bounty with you.

I can't guarantee the dishes will necessarily be healthy. I can't guarantee you'll like them. But I can guarantee they will provide different dishes than you've currently been preparing at your home. For my contributions, I'm going to turn to the bounty of cookbooks I received for Christmas for inspiration.

I invite you to cook along with us if the recipe strikes your fancy, and weigh in with your thoughts!

First recipe comes Wednesday!!