Stracciatella alla Romana ……. A Warm Winter Soup.
April 20, 2010 in Uncategorized
Stracciatella alla Romana (pronounced str- cha – tella) has humble origins, like most soups. This is a winter soup that can be sipped down piping hot with lots of hot, crusty bread dripping with butter. The secret to a great stracciatella is in the broth, which must be enriched with all the goodness and flavours of vegetables and meat. Again, this is another of my two-for-the-price of one dishes …… yielding a pot of steaming delicious stracciatella AND another one of creamy chicken and vegetable soup. Again, i tend to use up all my aging veggies and clear the fridge with this recipe. A “stracciatella” is a rag … the soup got this name because egg is poured from a height into the boiling soup - cooking the moment it makes contact with the soup ,making strands that resemble little tiny rags – hence, stracciatella.
Ingredients
6 finely chopped carrots
6 stalks of finely chopped celery
4 finely chopped large onions
8 cloves of garlic
1 punnet of finely chopped mushrooms – any sort, button, portabellini oyster
3 small red peppers chopped
3 small yellow peppers chopped
2 – 3 cup of dry white wine
a good grating of nutmeg – about 1/4 tsp
chicken stock cubes – about 5 for a large pot (don’t make your broth too salty as
you are going to add a whole cup of parmesan cheese which is quite salty)
freshly ground black pepper
chopped basil and parsley thyme and rosemary
1 tray of 12 chicken thighs – remove the skins (microwave these or fry them and give them to your
dogs as a treat.)
Olive oil for frying
6 free range jumbo eggs
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
400ml of fresh cream for the creamy chicken and vegetable soup.
NB: Remember – i was cleaning out my fridge – if you have some green beans or peas or zucchini
that need using – bung them in – the more veggies the better the flavour of your broth.
In a heavy based pot brown the chicken with the onion and garlic – brown them really well and
get a nice dark colour to them – this will take about 20 minutes or so – keep you eye on the pot
and keep stirring – you want colour but not burnt chicken
Add the wine now to release all the caramelised bits off the bottom of the pot - you need quite a lot
- enough to almost cover the chicken – reduce until all of the alcohol has burnt off
Add all of the other ingredients giving them a good stir to get the flavours
combined and then cover the whole lot well with water
Bring the pot to the boil for about 20 minutes and then reduce
the heat to a moderate simmer for another 40 minutes to an hour.
As is the case with any soup – the longer you leave it
to cook – the deeper and richer the flavour.
Strain off all of the liquid – and then sieve out any bits – so you are left
with only the broth, keep the veggies and chicken for your
creamy chicken and veg soup.
This is what you will have left (above) – return it to the stove and bring the pot
back up to a rolling boil …. like in the picture on the left below,
In a bowl that is suitable for pouring – beat the six eggs until smooth and then add
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese and mix well.
When the broth is boiling it’s head off – pour the egg and cheese mixture in a thin
stream (i do this from a height – as this gives you a thin stream) and you do this
whisk it into the broth. This only takes a few seconds and you are left with a pot
of amber liquid decorated with golden strands of eggy cheesy heaven!
yummmmmm…..
Now – remove all the bones from the chicken carefully – it’s fiddly and takes a while -
but you are going to liquidise the two – so you don’t want to break you liquidiser.
Put this into your liquidise with 400ml of fresh cream, I added a few leaves of fresh
basil – and liquidise the lot until it’s nice and smooth.
Add a good grinding of black pepper.
Check for seasoning, drizzle with some olive oil and serve with nice crusty panini (rolls) or some
ciabatta … but you do need lots of nice bread to mop
up with …. hehehe i love bread ….
Buon appetito
xx
jan
ps: i love winter too!
and soup!
BITSOFCAREY said on April 20, 2010
sounds and looks yummy!! going to try this xx
supagran said on April 20, 2010
OMW I love the idea of the eggy strands in the broth, great winter fare, I also love soups and stews.
Looked for you on Sat, my daughter was in the Golden Circle and was most upset when the fences got broken down and everyone streamed in!
janicetripepi said on April 20, 2010
Thanks Carey – it’s devine for a cold winters night. xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 20, 2010
Thanks Supagran – i was a bit too hey – one minute there we were all comfie and spread out and WAMMO BAMMO … down came that fence and it was wall to wall people – like sardines in a can!! But i did enjoy it … xxxx jan
tandy.sinclair said on April 21, 2010
could you please come over and cook for me tonight? Ciao bella xxxx
leaineskitchen said on April 21, 2010
Lovely pics! The soups are very intriguing! Great post
potjie said on April 21, 2010
I’m printing this, soup weather have arrived in the Mother City.
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
Don’t you just love eating in cold weather …. and cooking!!! xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
Rofl – yep, bed, book, dvd and soup!!! OH heaven! Have an awesome day darling xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
Thanks Lea – i am particularly dilly about the stracciatella … delish delish xxx You have a great day and thanks for your visit xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
Any time darling ….. next time i am in de Kaap I shall do so with great pleasure …. feed me wine and I am yours! xxxx How’s that packing going? xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
Especially the stracciatella – we have all eaten creamy chicken and veg soup =- but that little bowl of amber is to die for doll!!!! hehehe ….
tandy.sinclair said on April 21, 2010
wine anytime! packing will be done by supper time
sharonsmit said on April 21, 2010
We had the Stracciatella soup on the cruise ship!! Was more of a beefy broth, but with the bits of eggs and all!!!
*off to daydream now…*
xxxx
janicetripepi said on April 21, 2010
You will find that in some Roman recipes – shin of veal is used to create the broth. It varies according to availability of meat! Thanks Shaz .. have a great day xxxx jan
kimstories said on April 22, 2010
Oh yummy – twice
this is so going on my list of things i have stolen from jan and plan to make
(i even have a folder called that on my computer)
frootcake said on April 22, 2010
Awesome and your post comes just in time for the cooler days. My daughter and I make a pot of soup for the week and take a blikkie everyday to work. This one will definitely be added to our book! Thanks Jan xxx
pinkpolkadot said on April 22, 2010
WOW, Jan – this sounds utterly delicious!!
janicetripepi said on April 23, 2010
Rofl – Thanks Kim darling – i hope that you get a chance to try some of them out soon. xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 23, 2010
Thanks angel – we also have a “soup pot” going most of the time – brimming with flavour and loads of “V”‘s – that are irrecognisable … so that Max can get some veggies inside his boday for the rugby field!!!! xxx jan
janicetripepi said on April 23, 2010
Thanks Pinky – it is rather delish hey!! Have a great Friday xxxxx jan
Sapph said on February 7, 2011
hi Jan
i saved this post a long time ago – and came to check it out again – only problem is the pics are missing? im confused about the broth and the creamy chicken and veg soup – are they 2 different meals?
regards
janicetripepi said on February 7, 2011
Hey Sapph – sorry about this. Letterdash lost all of my pics when they moved server last year &^&%$##@# – it! What i mean by this is – you make the big pot of soup- drain off some of the broth for the stracciatella, with the rest ie. the chicken and veggies – remove the chicken skin and bones and liquidise the meat with the veggies and cream to make the creamy chicken & veg soup! Hope this helps – Hope springs eternal though – i am meeting with the food24 people tomorrow to sort my pics out!!! I shall on my knees praying for most of the day!!! haha …. have a great evening xxx jan