Mom’s Vegetable Beef Soup

• 4 to 6 lbs soup bones with some meat
• large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup parsley
• salt & ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup barley
• 18 oz can stewed tomatoes, broken up
• 1 cup whole kernel corn, frozen
• 1 cup peas, frozen
• 1 cup green beans, frozen
• 1 cup Lima beans
• 1 cup chickpeas
• 2 carrots, cut in 1/4″ cubes
• 2 medium potatoes, cut in 3/8″ cubes
• 1 cup macaroni (optional)

Place soup bones in large pot. If there is not much meat on the bones, add some low-grade beef. Add enough water to cover, bring to boil & skim the surface to remove scum. Add onion, parsley, salt & pepper. Simmer until meat is cooked, about an hour. Remove meat and reserve, strain broth. Refrigerate broth. When cold, skim fat off top.

Bring broth to a boil. Cut reserved meat into bite sized pieces. Add meat to broth, along with all remaining ingredients. Simmer until carrots & potatoes are cooked. If desired, add macaroni during last 10 minutes of cooking.

In my teen years Mom got a hand-crank pasta machine. That made life FAR easier, especially since Kevin & I could help with the making of it, doing the cranking if nothing else. And yes, when I make pasta (which isn’t that often) I have my sons help.

Mom’s Chicken Soup

• 1 whole chicken, either soup, stewing, or roasting
• salt
• large onion
• 1/2 cup parsley
• 2 lbs carrots, pared & cut into uniform pieces (large)

Cut the chicken up and add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and skim scum off surface. Add salt, onion, & parsley and simmer for 1 hour, or until chicken is mostly cooked. Add carrots and cook until done, about 30 minutes. Remove chicken & carrots and strain broth. Cut chicken up, and return to broth along with carrots. Serve with egg noodles.

Pappa al Pomodoro

Bread & Tomato Soup

• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick of celery
• 4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 400g tomatoes
• Spring of fresh sage
• Basil
• 6 slices hard
• Unsalted bread
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Chili pepper

Finely chop the onion, leek carrot, and celery and fry with the oil in a large earthenware pan. Add salt, the peeled and chopped tomatoes, sage and basil and cook, adding water until it becomes smooth and creamy, neither too thick nor too runny. The soup should be served tepid, with olive oil drizzled on top. The flavor can be pepped up with a dash of chili pepper.

The forerunner of this dish was called panunto or pancotto and it contained no vegetables at all. Indeed the original recipe was without tomatoes, as it dates from long before the discovery of America and their arrival in Europe. The ingredients were therefore simply bread, oil, garlic and salt and this tasty, mushy mixture was often used to wean babies.

Chick Pea Soup

Revithia Soupa

• 1/2 lb dried chick peas
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp baking soda
• salt & ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 to 8 cups water
• 2 medium onions, minced
• juice of 1 lemon, strained
• 3 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large bay leaf

Wash and soak chick-peas according to package directions. Drain and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 15 minutes. Remove husks by rubbing chick-peas between thumb and forefinger. Rinse well and drain.

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté onions and peas stirring with a wooden spoon, until onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and stir over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add bay leaf, garlic, salt, pepper, & 6 cups of water to start. Cover and bring to a boil, simmer, stirring occasionally for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or longer until peas are tender. Add more water it necessary. Remove from heat discard bay leaf and stir in lemon juice.

Galanga Soup

This was a powder Greg purchased in an Oriental market. We never found it again.

Wonton Soup

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1 green onion (with top), chopped
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 24 wonton skins
• 5 cups water
• 3 cans (10-3/4 oz each) condensed chicken broth
• 3 soup cans water
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 cup spinach, turn into small pieces (or 1 cup watercress)

Cook and stir pork and green onion until pork is brown; drain. Add 2 tsp soy sauce, cornstarch, ginger, & salt. Place 1 tsp filling on center of each wonton skin. Moisten edges with water. Fold each skin in half to form a triangle; press edges to seal. Pull bottom corners of triangle down and overlap slightly. Moisten one corner with water; pinch to seal. Wontons can be covered and refrigerated no longer than 24 hours.

Heat 5 cups water to boiling; add wontons. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered 2 minutes – wontons will break apart if overcooked. Drain.

Heat chicken broth, 3 cans water, & 1 Tbsp soy sauce to boiling in 3 quart saucepan; add spinach. Heat just to boiling. Place 3 wontons and 1 cup hot broth in each soup bowl.