no soup for you!

growing up, all holidays had food involved. i don't know if it is an italian thing or not, but anytime there was a get together...the food came with!

on easter, christmas and thanksgiving-there was ALWAYS escarole soup (aka wedding soup. although we never remember eating it at a wedding.) the thrill of escarole soup was the mini meatballs. they were just so cute and small! all the kids wanted the bowl with the most meatballs in it!

well, i always ended up winning because my pop pop would always sneak me his. and since i knew he would do this-i was at his side at ALL dinners!

these 2 photos are of pop pop. the top was in world war II. he sent this photo to my nana while he was out finding jap guns.

the second was about a year before he died in our home on tree street. so many memories of that kitchen. (i made him that shirt with little toot on it. it was his favorite story to tell us kids when he was trying to get us to nap) most of which have food, women playing cards, coffee brewing and everyone smoking. the smoking part is part of my good memories because of who was smoking, not because i enjoy the smell of cigarettes.

so here is a recipe for escarole soup.

46 ounces of chicken broth (from a can or homemade)

1 head of escarole or 3/4 of a box of chopped spinach

1/2 cup pastina (tiny, star shaped pasta)

1/2 of a chicken breast, shredded

1 lb of mini meatballs

make the meatballs first (see above link). heat up chicken broth. if you are using spinach, you can add it now with the pastina and the meatballs. if you are useing escarole, wash it VERY WELL (it is bitter) and boil it in a separate pot in about 1 cup of water. keep the lid on and steam for about 5-8 minutes. drain well and cool. rinse again then add to soup. let the soup cook down a bit, but not for more than an hour.

and if there is a kid sitting by you, be sure to give them a few of your meatballs!