HOLIDAY SOUP

When I was learning about what Tom felt was absolutely necessary to special occasions, this traditional Italian soup was one of the first things. It stood at the beginning of meals that seemed to go on all day. It's a whole meal in itself, when you get right down to it! It's best if you start with a stewing fowl or a roasting hen, but it's not impossible to make it with a broiler fryer, though then you should start with chicken broth so the final soup has more flavor. The size of your chicken and the proportion of vegetables you favor will determine the number of servings you make.

Holiday Soup

Wash a raw chicken and put it into a large soup pot with one or two large, peeled carrots, an onion, two or three washed ribs of celery and two or three cloves of garlic. Cover the chicken with cold water or broth, add a bayleaf, and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is tender, adding salt to taste in the last half hour of cooking.

Remove the chicken from the broth and cool until you can remove the meat from the bones. Cut the meat into bite size chunks and set aside. Strain the broth. Wash the soup pot. Return the broth to the kettle and add:

One large, peeled, sliced carrot for each serving of soup

1/2 - 1 rib of celery, scrubbed and sliced, for each serving of soup

Boil until the vegetables are tender. If you wish, slice the carrots cooked with the chicken and add them to the broth. Add the chicken and for each six servings of soup, add a 10 ounce package of frozen spinach. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper.

For each serving of soup, take one large egg and beat them all together with a generous quantity of grated parmesan or Romano cheese, salt and pepper. Add the beaten eggs to the boiling broth. Allow the eggs to cook and set, a very speedy process, then serve immediately.

This information was placed on the web by Thomas J. Sienkewicz. If you have any questions about this document, you may contact him at tom@tomsiekewicz.com.