Italian Wedding Soup

I’ve had Italian Wedding Soup on my mind for a while.  And not because my recipes of late seem to be wedding themed; there’s just something about putting little teeny tiny meatballs into soup that brings a smile to my face.

Sometimes I’m desperate for something simple for lunch and I’ll grab a couple cans of Progresso soup to get me through the work-week.  When I tried the Italian Wedding Soup from Progresso I was more than impressed by the flavor.  About a week later Yahoo!’s home page featured a simple Italian Wedding soup by Fabio Viviani.  I felt like this was a sign that I needed to test the recipe myself and share the results with all of you, of course! 

First, sauté one cup onion, one cup celery and one cup carrots in olive oil until tender and starting to brown.  I let the veggies cook over low heat while I prepared the meatballs for baking.  Fabio claims that the secret to any good soup is letting the veggies saute until they just begin to brown and I think this detail definitely added to the depth of flavor.

While the veggies are softening, combine one pound ground beef (Fabio suggest 80/20), 2 eggs, 1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs (mine were Italian seasoned) and a couple tablespoons shredded Parmesan. 

I did substitute asadero cheese since that was what I had on-hand.  I mixed everything thoroughly with my bare hands and then shaped the meat mixture into small ½ inch meatballs and baked them on a large cookie sheet for 15 minutes on 375 degrees.

While the meatballs baked, the veggies started to brown slightly and I added 2 quarts of chicken stock and 2 cups of water and let it come to a simmer.  After it simmered for a few minutes I added the spinach to let it wilt.  At that point I added the meatballs and orzo and let everything simmer in the pot for maybe another ½ hour or so until the pasta was cooked thoroughly.  

I only had 2 quarts of chicken stock on hand but the 3^rd quart would have been nice; the orzo really absorbs a lot of the broth.  Spinach is so difficult to measure, I recommend adding more spinach than you think you need since the wilting process decreases its volume.  Also the meatballs were good, but did sort of taste like hunks of plain ground beef in the soup.  Next time I’ll season them more and perhaps let them simmer in the soup for a longer amount of time. 

What I love about preparing soups is that you don't have to follow any strict instructions.  It's basically a combination of a bunch of ingredients simmering together and allowing the flavors to meld.  The Italian wedding soup is a very wonderful, hearty-yet-light soup that is perfect for the winter months.  The protein in the beef really makes it a more substantial dish and I will definitely make this again. I prepared the recipe almost exactly as Fabio suggests and it turned out mighty tasty.  Proof that it is not impossible to cook like a famous chef! 

Casual Chinese

Casual Chinese, on Grand Avenue in Newport, has been my go-to Chinese place for the last four years.  I wouldn't say it's the best Chinese I've ever had but I've grown fond of it.  Their egg rolls and crab rangoon are always hot and fresh and my usual order of Szechuan vegetables with shrimp never lets me down.  Never lets me down, that is, until my last visit when the sauce tasted...off.

In my experience, you choose a Chinese restaurant based on its proximal location to your house, not necessarily on it being the best place in town.  I didn't want to let this one bad experience deter me completely, cause let's face it, everyone has a bad day.  So on a recent trip I ventured off the well-beaten path of Sunday night Szechuan and took some time to consider their other menu items.  Much to my delight Casual Chinese offers a small Thai menu along with their traditional Chinese-American cuisine.  The menu includes red curry, yellow curry, pad Thai, Siam noodles and a few others; on this particular day I was rather in the mood for Thai, win! 

The Chicken Pad Thai was excellent.  I've ordered this menu item at countless places over the years and this order really held up to those I've had in exclusively Thai restaurants.  The portion is HUGE.  It filled an entire large styrofoam container and weighed about a ton; if I remember correctly I made three meals out of this order.

Another surprise on the menu was the "small dinner" offerings.  Casual Chinese offers about 10 variations of small dinners ranging from pepper steak to chicken with broccoli to sweet and sour chicken; each dinner is served with a decent portion of fried rice.  I chose the shrimp with vegetables from the small dinner menu.  The shrimp and vegetables were juicy and crisp and served in a very light-colored brown sauce. It was really the perfect dinner portion and at the lower price of $6.95 it's a deal, especially if you're not looking to stuff yourself with a quart of Chinese food.  I snapped this picture after mixing in some of the pad Thai and taking quite a few bites.  

With such an encouraging visit to Casual Chinese I hope to change things up a bit each time I go back. Or maybe I'll just keep ordering the Pad Thai, it was that good.

 

Pho Lang Thang

Pho Lang Thang has been on my mind for months so with the day off work I made my way over to Findlay Market and finally managed for our paths to cross.  I'm not navigationally savvy when it comes to the market's layout but after 2 full trips up and down the length of it I eventually found the restaurant's location on Elder Street.

Entering Pho Lang Thang at the height of the lunch rush was chaotic but I was quickly calmed by the beautiful aroma; the aroma I can still smell as I type this as it lingers on my clothes.  If you're looking to avoid crowds and a wait, during the week at least, I suggest going no earlier than 1pm.  By the time I left at 1:15 there was no longer a wait for table service and the to-go orders had died down.

It was less than a 10 minute wait for a seat at a long, narrow high-top table with bar stools and I shared my lunch with the strangers who happened to be seated next to me.  I heard one customer mention the dramatic increase in business as he waited for his food, apparently he used to be able to come in and sit down right away with no wait.  A great thing for Pho Lang Thang and a bad thing only if you have a Bahn Mi habit and zero patience.

I waited about another 15 minutes to place my order but I was understanding as I had no specific place to be and was quite entertained observing the flow of the restaurant.  I chose the pork Bahn Mi (pork sandwich) and Pho Bo (rice noodle bowl) in a beef broth with brisket.  You can order the Bahn Mi and the Pho Bo with your choice of meat; vegetarian versions of both dishes are also offered.  After I placed my order the server repeated back to me "so you want the Bahn Mi and the Pho Bo?"  I guess this is technically two entrees but I wanted soup and sandwich, what can I say?

The rice noodle bowl was decent and had a light delicate flavor, I could have sworn it had either a touch of cinnamon or nutmeg but I can't be sure.  At first glance it appeared to have an appropriate noodle to broth ratio, but the noodles seemed to multiply as I stirred.  This is a much more substantial dish than I anticipated and I ended up only eating half of it.  The Pho Bo is also served with a side dish of garnishes including: bean sprouts, lime, jalapeno and cilantro.  I wasn't certain if the garnish went with the sandwich or the noodle bowl and didn't get a chance to ask my server. When she came back to box up my food she apologized and informed me the garnish went with the noodles.  I don't think I missed on anything but perhaps the jalapeno would have added some depth.

I made the picture of the Bahn Mi extra large so you would be extra jealous when you see all the yum in this bun.  Oy. The airy french-like bread has a very thin crust and successfully absorbs the marinade from the pork and the garlic butter mayo. The bread is not dense in the least; perfect for containing all the insides of this sandwich including: grilled marinated pork, garlic butter mayo, pickled carrots and daikon (white radish), cucumber and cilantro.  The marinade can take credit for most of the amazing flavor and it meshes with the other toppings in an uncanny sort of way, which as I mentioned before, could create a habit i don't need.

Oh!  I almost forgot, I also tried the Vietnamese limeade.  It was refreshing and a welcome reminder of summer on this 20 degree day; it didn't have a fake green tint so I know it was home-made.

I boxed up half of each dish to take home and then headed back into the market for a little shopping.  White chili spice from Colonel De's, and one hunk each of New York sharp cheddar and Mexican white cheese from Krause's .

No matter the weather, there's never a bad time for Dojo.  Today I did half churro half pistachio.  The churro tasted amazingly like churro batter and although it was frozen, the cinnamon notes seemed to warm me up.  I didn't want this cup to end.