Fresh Pea Soup with Butter Dumplings

Anyone out there have fresh peas growing in the garden? I've never grown them myself, but my sister Peggy does. She's the farmer in our family and at one time ran an organic herb farm. Now she gets to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of her labor. Here's another delicious recipe from Peg.

Fresh Peas

Every year around Valentines Day I plant peas in my garden—I prefer English peas. These are the type that need to be shelled, which may be why they are more difficult to find in the produce departments. It’s a lot easier to buy them frozen, I suppose, but I actually enjoy the process of splitting the shell and spilling the sweet little green orbs into a bowl. A few always find their way into my mouth as well and they are so sweet almost like a healthy candy—my grandsons will attest to that. They also get a thrill out of picking the pods and retrieving the hidden treasures.

It’s quite a process getting a pea from seed to pod. It takes time and patience and finally the effort of preparing them for the table. But to me the whole process is exciting (I know, get a life, right!) and so rewarding that the end result is worth the endeavor.  One of my favorite ways to prepare fresh shelled peas is a soup base that I generally freeze. The warm temperatures when the peas are harvested don’t usually invite a hot soup, but if we do have a cool summer day I don’t hesitate to go all the way with the recipe. Of course you could use frozen peas with good results I’m sure. The resulting soup is very different from split pea, much fresher tasting, and oh those dumplings—yummy and comforting!

I’ve adapted this recipe from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.

Fresh Pea Soup with Butter Dumplings (serves 6)

Soup:

4 cups shelled peas (approximately 4lbs unshelled)

4 ½ cups vegetable or chicken stock

1 tsp sugar, optional (if peas have good sweet flavor omit)

½ medium onion diced

½ cup white wine (Rhine or dry depending on your preference)

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

4 ½ tbsp butter

4 ½ tbsp flour

Dumplings:

6 tbsp softened unsalted butter

2 eggs, room temperature

½ cup flour

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 to 4 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (chive, tarragon, or chervil work well)

¼ to ½ tsp salt

Soup: Cook the peas and onions in the stock until quite soft. Blend until well pureed and season the thin puree with wine, salt, and pepper. Melt the butter in a soup pan and stir in the flour. Cook the roux over low heat for a few minutes then stir in the puree a cup at a time whisking after each addition until smooth. Return to heat and bring to a gentle boil to prepare for the dumplings.

Dumplings: Soften the butter as much as possible, but do not melt. Beat the eggs with the flour and beat in the butter. Season with nutmeg and salt and stir in the herbs. Drop the batter by half teaspoons into the gently boiling soup. When they rise to the top they will need about 5 more minutes to cook through.

Brown Chewies - A Childhood Favorite

My dear, sweet Auntie Rosy passed away this morning at the age of 101. The past few days I've been thinking of her and recalling images of her and things that we did together back when I was growing up. She was a bright light in my childhood and even though she had been living with dementia for the past 10 years or so, still carried that light and her innocent sense of humor to the end. The recipe that follows is one that she would make for us 7 kids. I loved these sweet, chewy, nutty morsels. It's one of those recipes from the 60's: no fancy stuff, no foodie pretentiousness. Pure simplicity. And, though I have not had these for years, I'm sure they would still taste good. Maybe I'll make them today in honor of my Auntie. 

Brown Chewies

1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
5 T flour
1 pinch baking soda
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1-2 T melted butter or margarine

Mix first four ingredients until combined. Fold in nuts. Spread over melted butter (or margarine) in an 8x9  cake pan. Cook 12-15 minutes at 375º to 400º. Cool and cut into small squares.

Gianduiotto - Italian Chocolate Pudding from "Mangia e Taci"

Here's another recipe from our family cookbook Mangia e Taci, available at www.lulu.com. (fyi...We make no money off of this book; it was done mainly for family and friends to share.) Aside from favorite recipes from my mom's kitchen, the book includes a bit of family history, dad's musical recipes and some stories written by all of us D'Orazi children. I chose to post this recipe for Gianduiotto (pronounced jan-doo-YOHT-oh) because my birthday is tomorrow. Hint, hint!

Gianduiotto

Italian Chocolate Pudding

This is a dessert that is not as sweet as most American puddings, but is almost as easy to make. Once again it can be surrounded by liqueurs to heighten the flavor and create a more intriguing presentation for company.

Happy Birthday to me...

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup unbleached flour

½ cup sweet chocolate powder

3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

5 cups milk (preferably whole, but 2 percent works), heated

Amaretti cookies, crumbled (optional)

2 to 3 tablespoon sweet vermouth (optional)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium to medium low heat. Add sugar, flour, chocolate, and cocoa and cook stirring constantly for 5 minutes—the mixture will be thick and paste like. Add the hot milk a little at a time, incorporating it after each addition. Simmer the mixture over medium low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid scorching. The mixture will be very thick, but still pour able. Moisten the cookie crumbs with the vermouth, if used, and spread in the bottom of a shallow serving bowl or casserole dish. Pour the pudding mixture over the crumbs, cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight. The pudding will set up and form a thin skin over the top. Serve with whipped cream if desired. Serves 6 to 8.

Joanne’s comment: This pudding was outstanding and easy to make! Instead of chilling it over night, I made it in the morning, chilled it for 8 hours and we had it for dessert that evening. We couldn’t wait!

Peg's Savory Tart with Greens

Here is the tart I was inspired to make after enjoying Charlene’s Hortopita. I am a sucker for most any savory pastry though I rarely take the time to make them. I decided to try an olive oil pastry crust as I thought it would work well with the ingredients I had for the filling, but a butter pastry would work also. In fact, the olive oil pastry I tried was a pain to get into the tart pan—the flavor and texture however were very good. I just used ingredients I had available which included a fair amount of different greens, but no dandelions. So you can be creative and change it up to suit your own taste or availability.

Pastry:

1 ¼ cups unbleached flour

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1/3 cup olive oil

2 tbsp ice water (or a bit more if needed)

Stir dry ingredients together and add the olive oil in a steady stream until incorporated. Add the water a tbsp at a time until the dough comes together. Flatten into a disk and press into a 9 or 10 inch tart pan. This took a bit of effort on my part—I may have just needed to add more water, but didn’t want a tough crust.

Filling:

1 slice bacon, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp each fresh rosemary and thyme, minced

1 tbsp Italian parsley, minced

½ fennel bulb, diced

6 or more cups thinly sliced greens (kale, chard, spinach, mustard, endive, dandelions, whatever)

¾ cups cooked beans, optional (I had some cooked cranberry beans, mushrooms would also be good)

1 tbsp cilantro, chopped

2 eggs

1 cup milk

Cheese of your choice (I used about 2 oz. of taleggio and a couple tbsp parmesan)

Salt, pepper, and cayenne (optional) to taste

Kalamata olives, pitted and halved, optional

Sauté bacon in olive oil until cooked; add garlic, herbs and parsley and sauté another minute or so, then add the fennel, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender. Add the sliced greens and beans if used, season again with salt and pepper adding some cayenne, if you like, to taste. The filling should be well seasoned so that you don’t need to season the egg mixture. Cool slightly and pour into prepared tart shell. Sprinkle with the cheese of your choice. Beat milk and eggs together and pour evenly over the filling. Decorate with olive halves if desired. Bake at 350 to 375 degrees until set, and top is beginning to brown about 30 minutes.

Hortopita with Dandelion Greens

The following is another contribution from Peg about a lovely meal she recently had with friends. Wish my friends were as "foodie" as hers! The recipe is not Italian, but from a Mediterranean neighbor...

Afternoon Delight

Peter and I recently had the pleasure of joining our neighbor Lars and some friends from the other side of the Willamette Valley (we live on the east they on the west) for a tour of his vineyard and farm. We started the tour in his wine cellar (which Peter calls ‘the bunker’ because it is a small concrete fortress bermed into the side of a hill). A visit to Lars’ cellar always means a tasting of the developing wines from his barrels. It was a perfect warm up and lightened my spirit enough to be agreeable about braving the wet and chilly afternoon. We continued the tour with a nod to the sheep and chickens and a discussion of his very organized composting system. Since we were all gardeners, it was a relevant topic and exciting to see the beautiful black moist soil that resulted from his efforts.

Finally when the rain began in earnest, we retreated to the house to enjoy our potluck lunch. Now you know you are mingling with foodie greatness when there is nothing ordinary set out on the communal table. Here is a run down of what we enjoyed that afternoon: Homemade Swedish rye bread and farm fresh egg salad with capers; Hortopita, which is a Greek phyllo and dandelion savory pastry; homemade salami (yes, really!) and homemade cheese; homemade hummus; fennel chutney; a big mixed salad; and a trio of homemade cookies—all washed down by various wines and a delicious nettle tea.

I asked Lars to share his bread recipe as it was so dense, moist and tasty. But since he is Swedish and works from the metric system, I had to adjust the recipe to our American standard system. So, before sharing it, I will try it out and fine tune it if needed.

I also asked my friend Charlene to share her recipe for the Hortopita which was amazing not only because it was delectable, but also because she gathered the 3 pounds of wild dandelions to make it with! Try to imagine what a mound of greens that is, and if you’ve ever even tried to dig those tenacious weeds out of your garden or lawn, you will appreciate the amazing effort it would take to gather and clean that volume.

The Hortopita is similar to the northern Italian Torta Verde (green tart) in that it has a filling of greens, but rather than phyllo, the pastry surrounding it is more of a buttery pie crust. Based on the ingredients, Charlene’s version is really quite healthy and I hope to try it soon, though honestly I will have to substitute something for the dandelions—I’m not that ambitious! I was inspired enough to try my own savory pastry using ingredients I had on hand, so I will share that recipe as well since it was a success.

Charlene's Hortopita

3 lbs blanched and wrung out dandelion greens, chopped

3 leeks and 3 shallots sautéed in olive oil till beginning to caramelize

Can add chopped parsley, dill, I had some dried dill

After the above has cooled, add:

Juice of 2 lemons

Salt & Pepper

1 lb cubed feta

2 eggs (I used one duck egg, one chicken egg)

Pinch cayenne

Pinch nutmeg

Layer in phyllo dough (I used the organic spelt phyllo), using about one half cup olive oil to brush on between the layers.  I put on the bottom 3 or 4 sheets, then a glob of the horta, spread to edge, then 3 or 4 sheets phyllo, one more glob horta, spread to the edge, then top with 3-4 sheets, fold over edges, crimp and brush with olive oil.

Bake 400 for one hour, until browned on top.  

The amount in this recipe would be enough for a big lasagne pan, or full sized cookie sheet.  I had some of the horta left over from the smaller deep dish pizza dish I used.

Spaghetti and Meatballs - An Italian-American Classic

Here is the recipe from Peg as promised. 

Spaghetti and meatballs is considered a classic Italian dish by many Americans. However the meatballs (polpette) we ate in our Italian family never included spaghetti or any kind of pasta, and certainly never any tomato sauce. In fact Italian Americans at the turn of the century were not serving meatballs with their spaghetti. But the American hankering for meat required Italian restaurants to accommodate that craving—thus was born spaghetti and meatballs, a creation of east coast Italian Americans.

The first time I ever ate spaghetti and meatballs was at the home of my future in-laws when I was in my twenties. It was a favorite meal in my husband’s family, but sadly when his mother passed away her meatball recipe was lost with her. I have never had a great desire to make the dish, but since my husband had such fond memories of it I decided to give it a try. I looked at several meatball recipes and adapted them to include ingredients I had on hand, and thought would work. I had some grass fed ground beef and pork from my local farmers market so I was off to a good start. Happily it was a success so I will share it.

Italian American Meatballs

½ onion finely diced

3 cloves garlic minced

2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground pork

¾ cup fresh whole wheat or white bread crumbs

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup grated Romano cheese

¼ tsp nutmeg

2 tsp kosher or sea salt

½ tsp black pepper (can use red if you want spicier)

1 large egg, beaten

¾ cup water

Sauté the onion in about 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat until golden; add the garlic and herbs and sauté another minute or two; cool. Combine with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and mix gently with a fork until well mixed but loose. Use your hands to lightly form the mixture into about 24 golf ball sized meatballs—don’t over work the mixture or the meatballs will be tough. Pour enough oil (I used a combination of olive and grapeseed) to cover the bottom of a large non stick skillet. Heat the oil over medium heat until hot then brown the meatballs on all sides in batches if necessary, lowering the heat as needed, and drain on paper towels. They will finish cooking in the sauce. Retain the pan drippings for the sauce.

Tomato Sauce 

I had some frozen homemade tomato sauce, but you can use any good quality tomato or marinara sauce as follows:

1 chopped onion

3 large cloves minced garlic

¾ cup red wine

4 cups tomato sauce (or you can puree whole canned tomatoes in a processor)

1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion in the pan drippings until tender and translucent, add garlic and sauté 2 more minutes; add the wine and cook over medium high to deglaze the pan until most of it has evaporated. Add the tomato sauce, herbs and season to taste. Cover and simmer five or ten minutes to heat thoroughly, then add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Serve with cooked pasta of your choice.

Note: You can freeze some of the meatballs prior to cooking in the sauce if all 24 are not needed. If you do all 24 you might make another ½ recipe of sauce if you like more sauce with your pasta.

Polpette- A Different Sort of Meatball

Personally, I've never liked the term "meatball." It just doesn't sound appealing to me. However, the italian word "polpette" is much more delicate, just like this version of not-your-usual-ball-of-meat. (See what I mean?) These aren't meant to be mixed in with spaghetti because they are a stand alone delicacy.  I'll be posting a more traditional spaghetti & meatball recipe soon!


From Mangia e Taci, The D'Orazi Family Cookbook. Forward by Peggy.

While visiting my parents during the preparation of this book, I asked my Mother how to make the polpette she used to make when we were children. I remember how I loved them as they were unlike any meatball I’d ever had—most of which seem like mini round burgers in a sauce. It was a mystery to me how she achieved that tender savory interior and the slightly crusty exterior, and they were never served in a sauce. She told me that they were made from leftover meat, especially Bollito, but that any leftover meat and cooked vegetables could be used. I’d been visiting for a few days, so we had some leftover steak, a chicken breast in mushroom sauce, and a baked potato, so she agreed to prepare some polpette so that I could document the procedure. She used to use a meat grinder to prepare these, but now swears by the food processor. Trust me, it’s a unique and delicious way to create a totally new meal out of leftovers that might otherwise never get eaten. You need to use your judgment a bit regarding the ingredients you use—if it seems as though they would work together in the same meal, they will probably make good polpette.

½ lb leftover cooked beef (steak, roast, boiled, etc., or you can use some fresh ground if needed)

½ small onion

2 large cloves garlic

½ cup Italian parsley leaves

1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano or ¼ teaspoon dried

½ lb other cooked leftover meat (chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, ham, etc.); it’s fine even if there is sauce or vegetables with the meat

1 medium cooked potato or equivalent amount of leftover rice

2 slices bread soaked in ¼ to ½ cup milk or broth

2 ounces cheese, grated (preferably parmesan, but cheddar, Swiss, or most any hard cheese will do)

Salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

Flour as needed

Oil for frying (canola, peanut, etc)

Put the beef in the food processor with the onion, garlic, and herbs and process until finely chopped—do not over process. Remove to a large bowl. Place the other ½ lb meat in the processor with the potato and soaked bread and process until finely chopped. Add to the beef mixture and stir in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and stir in the egg. The mixture should not be too wet at this point and should hold together easily. You can add dry bread crumbs if it seems too wet, or a little milk or broth if it seems too dry. Make golf sized balls and flatten slightly. Heat about ½ inch oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium heat. Dredge the polpette in flour and fry in batches until brown on all sides, adding oil as needed, and adjusting heat as needed. Drain on paper towels. Makes 15 to 20.

Mary’s comment: I’ve made polpette many times and each time a different way—it depends on what leftovers you have. I’ve used leftover pork loin and lunch meats (vs. beef), and leftover rice instead of potatoes. If the leftover meat has garlic in it, I use that garlic and don’t add any more. If the leftovers already have herbs, I don’t add any oregano or parsley. I’ve done it without adding the milk soaked bread and used bread crumbs. Funny thing is, no matter what goes into them, they always seem to taste the same—delizioso! One more thing…don’t forget the ketchup for dipping! Or serve them with the stuffed baked tomatoes in this book and you can forget about the ketchup.